


Bonsais do deserve human rights on occasion

by Alien_ships



Series: Way too many trees everywhere [1]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bars, Bonsais, Braids, Elves, Katana, Magic, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23261644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alien_ships/pseuds/Alien_ships
Summary: Even though Patri doesn’t really like humans, he likes his college roommate William quite a lot even though William talks to his plants, demands other people treat them with respect and, in general, is rather weird.But maybe not as weird as some of his friends. Like Yami or Nozel.And definitely not as weird as the crazy fashionist Prince Lumière or Headmaster Julius.Modern university student AU but with magic, elves, and nobles.
Relationships: Charlotte Roselei/Yami Sukehiro, Licht/Lumiere Silvamillion, Patolli | Patri/William Vangeance
Series: Way too many trees everywhere [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704514
Comments: 14
Kudos: 79





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So for a while, I would even say for over a year, I wanted to write a fic involving:  
> 1\. Captains having their own clubs in college,  
> 2\. Captains going out to have a beer once in a while.  
> 3\. Patri having an awkward crush and generally being mocked by everyone but still remaining kind of cool for the most part.  
> 4\. William screwing with everyone about his tree obsession to the point where they are not sure if he’s serious or just joking.  
> I finally had some time to put this together. So yeah, that’s it. Enjoy!  
> And remember, Black Clover is great, I know our fandom is small and a lot of people hate us but let’s keep loving it!
> 
> There will be two parts of this, I'll upload the next one in a week.

“Lumière and I are sure that you and William will like each other,” Licht repeated once again with his disarming bright smile that made Patri feel just a little bit less negative about the whole situation. “He even promised Lumière that he’ll let you take more than three shelves in the bathroom so you can fit all your hair products there. That’s pretty generous.”

Never the less, Patri remained rather sceptical. He didn’t like humans in general with only a few exceptions. Prince Lumière even managed to become the first human Patri actually liked but that was not a case anymore.

When a few years ago Licht left for college, Patri had a hard time dealing with it. He missed his favorite cousin terribly and was doing insane things, trying to get Licht to come home even for the weekend. Licht somehow managed to calm him down with a promise that when Patri would enroll, instead of living in dorms like most students, they would move in together.

Patri grew up but still remembered about Licht’s promise and couldn’t wait to graduate. But then, out of the blue, Lumière announced that he and Licht would be living together from now on. Patri at first considered moving in with them but his mother called this idea horribly rude and insisted that he should live in dorms like everyone else. Licht was reluctant to agree with her at but finally admitted that she was probably right. After endless vows from Licht that they would stay close no matter what, Patri gave in and agreed to apply for a room in dorms.

But there was absolutely no way his roommate would be fine. First of all, he was human. Secondly, he was noble, that’s how Lumière knew him. Patri despised human aristocrats. They all acted high and mighty with their pathetic magic.

“Just remember to respect his plants, Lumière says William really loves them,” Licht suggested as they were walking the stairs, slowly approaching the door at the end of the second-floor corridor. “I believe you will be able to give him a chance, Patri.”

Patri sighed but with resignation sounding heavy in his voice, he promised Licht that he would.

“Fine, I’ll try. But if he’s an asshole, I will use all my magic to make him regret that he was born.”

“Patri,” Licht glared at him reproachfully. “I’d rather you didn’t. Lumière and I are already having a hard time with people accepting us, we don’t need another ‘elf beating up human noble’ accident.”

“Okay, sorry,” Patri sighed, feeling almost certain it was going to be one of the worst years of his life.

“Unless he’s really an asshole, then you can even call me to help with the beating thing.”

“Thanks, Licht.”

“No problem, Patri. But remember, be careful around the plants. Lumière sounded very serious about that.”

“It will be fine Licht. It’s not like he’s going to kill me if I accidentally bump into one of them, right?”

“I don’t really know. I don’t understand humans that much,” Licht shrugged, trying to look aloof, but Patri felt that it was bothering him after all. “I try but still, they often confuse me.”

“Well, we’ll see. In the worst case, you’ll be visiting me in the hospital,” Patri rolled his eyes. “Or will be paying for my psychotherapy when I go mad because I’ve been living with a human for too long.”

“It’s nice that you’re assuming you’ll make it past the day one,” Licht smiled warmly and then, finally, put a hand on the handle. “Are you ready?”

“Let’s just get it over with and then go for ice cream.”

***

Almost three and a half years later, Patri opened the very same door and immediately got blinded by a flash. It was particularly irritating since it was exactly what one of his own spells did to other people and he was sure magic light should not affect him at all.

But it wasn’t magic. It was a camera flash. Patri blinked a few times in futile attempt to regain sight. It didn’t help much since he barely noticed three figures by the window and god blinded again by another photo being taken. It was worse when he first got his grimoire and started illuminating everything. It made him hate humans again and wonder why he has ever stopped.

Well, of course, he did not hate William. All these years ago, Licht turned out to be right, William and Patri got along surprisingly well. Their personalities just fit together and during these three years, they established a friendship that Patri never imagined he could have with anyone. But right now, even William was on thin ice.

“Hi, Patri,” he heard William’s warm, caring voice. “How was your quiz today?”

“William, please, try not to move, the deadline for the photos is in two hours,” Lumière was panicking.

“We have a lot of time,” Sacré calmed him down, snapping another picture with her awfully large camera.

Patri finally got used to the lights constantly going off stared in shock at William. He was wearing a red and gold ornamented mask that covered only half of his face. It was atrocious but somehow seemed to fit him perfectly and William in it was just mesmerizing even more so than he usually was.

Patri didn’t really like complementing Lumière’s mostly crazy fashion projects but this one was different, one of the few good ones. After a few seconds of shameless staring, Patri tried to redeem his dignity by looking down at the floor. Although, he might have been blushing a bit. He really hoped William was too busy to notice it.

“Wow, you look... good,” he muttered.

“You can tell him he looks gorgeous, Patri, that mask is the master design that will grant me the prize, I’m sure of it! And my family will finally have to acknowledge that I don’t want to be only the Wizard King but also a fashion designer!” Lumière encouraged him with excitement. “And Sacré will probably get an A in her photo class, how are your photos going?”

“Quite well. William, get closer to the plant.”

“You mean Zenon?” William asked. “He has some rights, you should treat him with respect.”

“Sorry,” Nero calmly accepted William’s odd demand. “Please, pose together with Zenon.”

He took a step back and kneeled before their window sill that was occupied by the crowd of William’s bonsais and a few other plants. Every one of them, of course, had a name since William loved them dearly.

To be honest, Zenon was Patri’s least favorite one. He was in a quite bizarre shape, he looked a beefy man with hands in his pockets. He used to creep Patri out at night quite a lot. William made it even worse by insisting that they use human pronouns for all the bonsais which caused Zenon to seem like he had his own free will.

“Fantastic!” Lumière gasped as William posed.

Yeah, Patri had to admit William did look fantastic. To the extent that made Patri even more uncomfortable with his feelings than he already was. Their eyes almost met but Patri averted it on time, hoping the crush didn’t show on his face.

He could feel William’s eyes on him. To avoid suspicion, he gathered his courage and looked up. William was smiling at him.

“The mask really does look great,” Patri said. “Congrats on making something not that ugly this time, Lumière.”

“I admit, I created some disasters but...” Lumière tried to deny.

Suddenly Sacré turned off her camera.

“This should be enough,” she stated with a shy smile. “And Lumière, your fashion is great. I love my dress.”

“It’s a beautiful design,” William agreed. “And suits you perfectly.”

“Fine, the dress is great too,” Patri admitted with a sigh, watching as Lumière skillfully took off William’s mask in just a few quick moves. 

“Thanks, I’ll try making something new for you too. But now, to the studio!” Lumière ordered, “Bye, Patri! Bye, William! You can keep the mask if I win!”

They ran off as abruptly as they appeared. Patri immediately felt more at ease. Even though he already got pretty used to Lumière, he really didn’t like humans except for William. The rest he mostly tolerated, maybe almost liked some of William’s friends at times by extension, when William also was there too.

Patri locked the door and turned to see his friend trying to fix his hair in front of the small mirror next to the window without much effect. However, his hair was too short to be in too much mess. Patri was a bit tempted to come and help him but he quickly dismissed the thought deeming it way too awkward and creepy.

And even with scars covering almost half of his face, William was just too pretty. There was something mesmerizing, captivating about him, like a graceful aura, slightly similar to the one Licht had but at the same time different. But maybe that was the actual reason Patri started tolerating his roommate in the first place, ever since they started living together he caught himself staring at William like he was the most fascinating person in the world. At first, it made him confused but now he knew the reason for that pretty well.

“So Lumière got you to model for his fashion project again?” Patri asked casually, dropping the thought.

“Yeah, they came in yelling that it’s an emergency but it’s usually emergency with them. But I hope I will get the mask, it was stunning and you know,” William’s eyes traced the scars in his reflection with resignation. “It would be nice to have something to cover them.”

“I would rather call it atrocious but it looked really good on you,” Patri said shrugging. “And you don’t need a mask, William.”

“I know,” he sighed, not sounding convinced at all. “I just would like to go out in one from time to time. And have everyone staring for an entirely different reason than usual. Although, Yami would probably make fun with me.”

“I could punch him for that if you want,” Patri offered, trying to sound casual. “Or, I don’t know, throw a light sword at him.”

William giggled and finally stepped away from the mirror to face Patri.

“I would love to see you try just for the fun of it,” he said with a smug.

“Hey, I could fight him, I already did a few times,” Patri rolled his eyes. “I went to a fencing school with Licht and did some martial arts,” he reminded his friend.

“And I still don’t entirely believe that you could win,” William cocked his head a little. “By the way, do you want to go out with us on Friday? We were planning on grabbing some drinks.”

By ‘us’ William probably meant the weird bunch he called his friends that included mostly humans. Most of them were Ph.D. students a few years older than them but somehow they’ve adopted William when he was still a freshman and it just stayed this way.

Patri was still feeling awkward thinking about those times. He used to be even more racist than he was now, very awkward with his little infatuation with William’s charming personality and generally not that ready for student life. And then a bulky, scowling older student called Yami started coming over to their room like he owned the place, getting too close with William for Patri’s liking. He even for a week thought that they might be dating, which almost killed him but fortunately, it turned out that Yami was already kind of involved with Charlotte, a beautiful elf that Patri actually did respect but had no idea what she saw in Yami or why she was hanging out with him and his friends.

He had no idea what William saw in Yami either but the two were pretty close. Even though Yami didn’t spare him any complaints or mockery, William seemed to genuinely like and trust him. Also, the fact that from time to time William would come up with a brilliant comeback to Yami’s mockery that seemed to do the charm and helped them keep the balance.

Apart from Yami and Charlotte, in William’s group of friends there was also Finral, a cool but flirty guy with little dignity but a car in addition to his spatial magic what made him a designated driver at all times, Finral’s his best friend Vanessa and a few others that would come and go so Patri wasn’t that much interested in keeping track of them but mostly tolerated them.

“I can’t I’m having a beer with my club’s first-years this week,” Patri explained.

“Hmm...Which bar you’re going to?”

“The Flying Egg, you know, the one that got the name changed after...”

“I know.”

The smirk on William’s face made Patri rather suspicious.

***

Patri wished he could spend the evening just watching dramas or documentaries about nature with William whole night but unfortunately his best friend had a biology club meeting to go to. Feeling kind of lonely by himself in the dorms, Patri left to have a diner with his cousin and unfortunately, his a tad bit annoying human fiancé.

“Eat more salad, Patri,” Lumière encouraged him. “And why are you wearing the sweater I specifically designed for William?”

“We have the same size, the same wardrobe... Sometimes it’s hard to tell whose sweater it is.”

Patri’s eyes drifted to Licht’s plate, trying to assess if he should eat some more. Licht seemed to have liked the salad. Patri decided to take another helping. Lumière was smiling looking simply enamored with the whole situation.

“It’s so adorable how much you idolize Licht,” Lumière said. “Why my sister doesn’t ever do this like that?”

“Your sister is literally giving up on 9 months of her life, her health and weight so you two can have a baby so I would say: respect her more,” Patri reminded him.

Lumière and Licht exchanged a long stare. It looked like they were communicating with each other without using words, the way only people who understand each other very, very well did.

“Yeah, we should pack the rest of the salad and buy her some chocolate,” Lumière agreed after few seconds. “I will drop by her place later.”

“I can do that,” Licht offered.

“Don’t worry, it’s my family and except for Tetia they all kind of hate you for being an elf so we should not risk you running into them this close to the wedding,” he kissed Licht’s cheek and stood up to bring some containers for the food from the kitchen.

“So how are the preparations going?” Patri asked and Licht immediately lit up.

“Pretty good, we finally decided on the meadow big enough, we just need to send a memo to everyone that we are changing the place. And we need to get William to rearrange the trees a bit. Speaking of how are things?” Licht asked with such care that slightly overwhelmed Patri.

He almost started a desperate monologue about how he was still confused about his feelings toward William while he really wasn’t and he knew that pretty well that he just was trying to deny them since he valued their friendship so much. But then he saw Lumière’s curious head pop out from the kitchen.

“Things are.. good. You know, same as always,” Patri avoided the subject.

“Lumière told me you looked like you almost had a stroke when you saw him today,” Licht smiled clearly without bad intention on his mind.

Patri tossed an angry glare at Lumière.

“I didn’t,” he denied.

“Oh, you did,” Lumière insisted. “He did,” he insured his fiancé.

“Do you think William had noticed?” Patri gave in and let his head hit the table with resignation. Fortunately, he did remember about the salad and missed it by an inch. “He’s my best friend and I’m ruining it all.”

“William is a good person, Patri,” Licht ensured him. “He always thinks of others and is very forgiving so you shouldn’t be afraid, really. And I don’t think I’ve ever met any human understands elves so well, no offence, love.”

“None taken, I’m still trying but I’m a prince so I’ll never fully understand how a minority with greater magical power must feel. I prefer to focus on how well we can all get along! And I really do like the fact that we’re getting married on the meadow, you guys have some really cool traditions!” Lumière seemed overexcited for the wedding. “And I mean, I don’t fully get your culture yet but I’m working on that and at least I get Licht so that’s a good start.”

Licht smiled a little bit looking at him. Patri wished eventually someone would look at him this way, just pure love.

“Maybe start with small steps,” Licht suggested. “Ask him if he wants to come to our wedding together with you. It’s pretty innocent since you’re best friends.”

“I would rather die.”

“I’m sure he would be more than happy to have you keep him company instead of sitting with a bunch of strangers,” his cousin wisely pointed out.

“You two wouldn’t do that,” Patri rolled his eyes.

“What Licht meant...There is the thing that it is expected from William to sit with family,” Lumière explained. “Nobles and all that. I already talked about it with my dad and yeah, we have to sit him there and it sucks. Unless you invite him and pull him to the Licht’s relatives’ table.”

Patri finally looked up. As per usual, Licht had pretty good ideas. He was almost convinced to try.

“I’m probably going to ask him later. Since, you know, it’s going to be less awkward later.”

“Sweetie, I am not trying to put you down now,” Lumière approached him. “But William is a wonderful person and he could get snatched by someone else if you wait too long. I mean three years. We managed to get engaged and pregnant in the meantime!”

Licht immediately let out a long, exhausted sigh, knowing Lumière’s words would have the opposite effect to what he wanted to achieve. And he was not wrong. As soon as Patri opened up his mouth, Lumière gasped in horror, realizing what he’s done.

“It’s true,” Patri realized. “Why would William ever lower his standards to go out with someone like me? It doesn’t make any sense, I saw how some people in his biology club look at him, why on earth would he waste time on an elf with too many issues? Yes, there are a lot of people who admire and respect me but that’s because they don’t really know me and William does so there is no way, probably he’s going to be so grossed out when he finds out...”

“Patri,” Licht’s voice was warm and kind. “Love is not wrong, even when something doesn’t go your way, it doesn’t make it a mistake, just a bump on the road. And trust your friend. If you two care about each other, everything is going to work out.”

Even though it was more general advice and not really that realistic, it still meant a world to Patri.

“And don’t sell yourself short,” Lumière took over. “You’re a great leader with a good heart, in many ways you’re just like a mini Licht in the best meaning possible. Your hair is beautiful, you know how to dress and your magic is strong and with so many possibilities! You can heal people, create things and the union magic is just dope!”

“It’s not that powerful and I’m not that good at using it.”

“You’re a baby, Patri,” Licht reminded him. “Of course we’re better at controlling our magic, we’re older.”

“Yeah but...”

“No buts, you’re cool. If you want, you can be in charge of lighting during our ceremony,” Lumière proposed. 

“Lumière, we agreed on not involving guests too much so they could have fun,” Licht reminded him. “And we’re already paying for the lights. But Patri, how does the light consultant sound? You can plan everything before the ceremony and you’ll be free during the party.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Patri admitted.

He admitted he has come a long way since being a racist first year, to accepting his favorite cousin’s right to date whoever he wants, liking his own roommate, thinking this wedding will be a national disaster, liking the said roommate even more, slowly accepting that the wedding is going to happen and there would be no divorce, thinking William was the best person except for Licht he will ever meet, accepting that Lumière is not that bad to finally planning the lightening for their wedding.

Those three years passed by quite quickly.

He didn’t even cringe when Lumière hugged him.

“I’ll call our light guy later and tell him you’re the boss now,” Lumière promised. “Just remember, it can’t be too dim or the clothes I’m designing for the guests won’t be visible in their whole glory. Remember that upon accepting our wedding invitation you accepted that you’ll wear whatever I want you to wear for the ceremony?”

Patri sighed heavily.

“I don’t think you’d ever let me forget that even for a day.”

Lumière was nice enough to drive Patri to the dorms on his way to Tetia’s house. He also gave Patri the mask to pass it on to William, although for a moment Patri was tempted to just hide it somewhere so William would never find it. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to take something William cared about from him and he brought it back to their room.

He expected William either to not be there yet or be reading something in his new broccoli pajamas that no one knew about except for Patri.

He did not expect William the sitting by his desk side by side with an annoyingly pretty elf. Who has stolen Patri’s chair. They were studying the miniature tree William had probably just grown.

“Patri, welcome home!” William smiled brightly. “This is my friend from the club, Yuno. He’s just a first-year so don’t scare him off.”

“Hello,” Patri greeted him, perfectly politely, showing off his perfect fake smile. Only William and Licht have been able to see through it so he felt pretty safe. “What are you two doing?”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Patri,” the brat spoke up. “Everybody had been telling me that your use of light magic is impressive.”

“Oh, really? And what kind of magic do you have?”

“Wind magic and I try to make best of it,” Yuno shrugged.

“That’s true! Yuno is so strong, he could beat you in a minute!” a small pixie-like creature appeared on the table, angrily clenching her fists. William tried to pet her and at first, she tried to push his hand away but when she finally let him, Patri could see her relax under the gentle touch.

Yuno didn’t deny what she said but also didn’t seem to care. He just completely ignored her.

“I want to explain something to Yuno, Patri, sorry, it won’t take more than half an hour,” William told him.

William was always carrying towards underclassman and they all loved him in return. Even though Patri wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about this particular one, he wasn’t about to go out of his way to upset William.

“Sure, don’t mind me. I need to read something for my class anyway.”

Patri did not expect it to happen but they actually did study. He pretended to be reading the text but more than often he caught himself stopping to look up at William or just listen to what William was saying.

William was a good teacher. Always explained everything cautiously and with care. And always believed in the person he was talking to. When he had first met him he found William a little bit naïve even, since always he believed that people had good intentions or were trying to do something good. It was the same when he was teaching someone, he always showed the way and motivated person to learn more. It was mesmerizing. Like the whole William always was.

Finally, after more or so forty-five minutes, Yuno thanked William and stood up.

“Thank you. I think my paper will be much better now.”

“No problem, Yuno, you can come back if you need anything.”

“I will remember that, I’m really grateful. Have a nice evening, William. And see you on the elf beer tomorrow, Patri,“ Yuno said.

“Oh, you’re joining our club?”

“Not really. But a lot of my friends are a part of it and they insist I come.”

“Feel free to drop by any time, you don’t need to officially join the club. The magic training sessions are open too.”

“Maybe I'll come. Thank you.”

Yuno finally disappeared behind the door and it took William just a few seconds to jump on Patri’s bed next to his best friend.

“I’m so proud of how nice you were at the end.”

“Don’t mock me, William.”

“How are Lumière and Licht?”

“They are good but clearly tense because of the wedding,” Patri shrugged. “Lumière reminds you about the clothes. And also, I brought you your mask.”

William's eyes dropped to the box Patri has put next to their shared wardrobe. He immediately reached out to try the mask on.

“Isn’t it fabulous?”

“It’s atrocious.”

“Horribly tacky. But I love it. Now I can’t wait to see Yami’s face when I’ll go out wearing it on Friday.”

“Please, don’t.”

William smiled mischievously and Patri was sure nothing was going to stop him so he just gave up.

“So Lumière and Licht finally agreed on the meadow that won’t cause legal problems.”

“It’s kind of a high time they did, the wedding is in a month after all. By the way, Patri,” William took the mask off and carefully placed it next to his bonsais on the window sill. “Are you going with someone?”

“Don’t you think that you would have known if I was?” Patri tried to conceal his embarrassment with sarcasm. “We literally spend most of our time together. And I don’t mean free time. Just our whole lives.”

“True. But I thought maybe... or I don’t know, that your parents made you take some cousin or something. Anyway, if you don’t, then you could just go with me,” William’s face was unreadable safe from his usual shadow of a smirk.

He couldn’t have known how much Patri wanted to go with him but at the same time, he had a bad feeling about it. In wasn’t how he wanted to invite William for the wedding, it wasn’t how he wanted to be invited but it was safe. He was a sure way he would go with William.

And there was a thing that he had no idea how to turn this situation around without embarrassing himself or rejecting William’s offer. Either way, it was going to turn out terrible so he just gave in.

“I... Yeah. That’s a really good idea,” he agreed slowly.

“I mean, we would probably end up spending the whole reception together so what’s the point. At least this way we’ll be sure that Licht and Lumière will actually let us sit together. And I’ll be able to get away from my father and his wife.”

“You’re right,” Patri said.

He hated William’s motivation. He hated how it happened. He hated his life.

And somehow William made it a lot worse.

“Hey, how about we watch the horror about the forest now?”

***

Patri was tired. Ever since they’ve watched the forest horror, he has been on edge. It turned out to be surprisingly good and traumatized him so severely that he couldn’t fall asleep in the room full of bonsais. Especially, the menacing Zenon. But, on the other hand, if he left, he would have to go through the park to get to Licht’s place and that was not an option.

In the end, Patri invited himself to William’s bed because if anyone was able to protect him from the evil trees, it was William. Still, he wasn’t that used to sleeping with someone in the same bed and William hogged the blankets like a maniac so in the end Patri barely slept a wink for the rest of the week.

When Friday came, he decided that one, maybe two beers should be enough.

However, he ended up on third one with no effort at all since the first years in his club turned out to be so interesting when they loosened up a bit. Drunk Raia and Fana were enjoying themselves too, showing off a bit in front of the kids. And also ridiculing their beloved friend and club president.

“So there was this student trip when we went to a cave because Patri thought it was going to be cool. And he got super excited about his new light whip or whatever, it turned out that the fencing club went there too on a training quest or something. And Patri smacked Yami Sukehiro on the back by accident. Yami got pissed and kicked Patri’s ass so hard that the whole cave collapsed and we had to ask a guy with spatial magic to get us out. True story,” Raia seriously related.

“I like the story when Patri made himself a magic sword and pretended to be Licht more than he did already, he even got makeup and everything,” Fana commented. “Stole my eyeliner, I will never forget that.”

“Just leave me be, I was fifteen,” Patri begged.

“Not when you made the cave collapse. You were all legal then,” Raia insisted.

“I also heard you are to blame for the giant flying egg incident,” Yuno mentioned casually. “Is this true?”

“Yeah, he stole some magic stones from people like headmaster Julius and Fuegoleon,” Fana nodded. “He called the egg ‘Shadow Palace’ and thought it was cool but yeah, it was still a flying egg with corridors inside. It took so many people to take it down! And I still cannot believe Licht and Lumière told everyone Patri was meaning well and they just let Patri go without any punishment!”

“Shut up, if I were punished, you would be too, you helped me get the stones,” Patri mumbled.

“Is this club even legal?” one of the first years asked shyly.

“Probably wouldn’t be if not for Licht,” Raia shrugged. “But it’s nothing compared to Yami’s fencing club. They literally just eat, slack off, and destroy things.”

“And sometimes team up to beat Patri or someone else up. But usually Patri.”

“Guys, I fought Yami like five times, it’s not that much, we’re kind of friends now.”

“I’ve heard you punched him first,” Fana smirked.

“I had a reason, okay?!”

“Yeah, defending your crush’s honor by beating up their other best friend without asking is a good reason,” Raia actually laughed openly.

“He called him queer weirdo, okay?” Patri rolled his eyes. “How was I supposed to know it’s an inside joke that he was actually fine with?”

“Are we talking about the club president William?” Yuno cocked his head.

“Why would you say that?!” Patri could hear his voice raise an octave due to panic.

“You kind off kept giving me the jealous boyfriend kind of looks when I came over the other day,” Yuno mentioned, shrugging.

“Nonsense,” Patri dismissed him. “Utter nonsense. So does any of you have a story about how you experimented with magic too much?”

“Sorry, kind of hard to beat the egg story,” another first-year admitted. “But once I was training my spatial magic and punched a hole in a tree, I don’t know even how.”

“A tree?!”

The horrified voice behind Patri could belong to only one person. He had a bad feeling about it. It took just a few seconds before someone wrapped his arms around him, seemingly hugging him but actually supporting his whole weight on him.

Drunk William. In the atrocious mask. The feathers teased Patri’s ears when William lowered his head so their cheeks were touching.

“A tree?” he repeated. “Was it okay?”

“Eeeee... Surprisingly, yes,” Patri was impressed by the first year’s fast reaction speed, he seemed to have guessed who he was talking to rather quickly. “The hole was so nice birds use it to hide from rain all the time now.”

“That’s good,” William let out a relieved sigh. “Hi, Patri.”

Somehow William managed to get even closer. Tips of his fingers were playing with the collar of Patri’s shirt, casually sneaking underneath.

“Hi, William.”

“Vanessa got me drunk. And I got free drinks in the last bar because the bartender thought my mask was cool. Not atrocious.”

“I still think it’s atrocious. But looks good on you.”

“Thanks. We will be drinking here now. Come by our table if you want.”

“Should you be drinking? You look like you've had enough.”

“Do you think I can grow a bonsai on this table? A bonsai would really look nice here,” drunk William insisted. “Also, we need to clean up our room when we get back. I’ll make us brooms.”

“Sure, William. But leave the table be, trust me, it’s not a good idea.”

“I always trust you. Oh, hi, Yuno. Hi, other young elves.”

Suddenly, the wight has been lifted from Patri’s shoulder. He turned to see Yami pulling William off him and then helping the other man stand on his own.

“Vangeance, stop harassing elven brats. Let’s go,”

He started pulling William towards the table where Patri saw Finral, Vanessa and Yami’s girlfriend Charlotte. William waived sadly to the group he was leaving.

“Take care of him, Yami!” Patri yelled after him.

“Come babysit him on your own if you want, brat,” Yami yelled back across the whole bar.

Patri let out a tired sigh and turned to the rest of elves. They were all staring at him.

“Wasn’t it... like the president of the biology club? The one with all the research grants?”

“You two are so cute,” Fana stated. “Are you finally getting married after you graduate?” she joked.

The first years gasped.

“No, it’s not...” Patri protested faintly.

“That’s so cool you are so supportive of elven magic development but still tolerant enough to be in a committed relationship with a human. That’s pretty awesome,” another student admitted.

That sounded kind of nice and probably Licht would be really proud of Patri if it was true but unfortunately wasn’t.

“Look, we are not together,” he decided not to mention that he wasn’t as tolerant as they were thinking.

“They so are,” Fana insisted. “We don’t know why Patri is being so shy. Probably he just doesn’t want to steal Licht and Lumière’s thunder as the human-elf gay power couple.”

“You know what? I don’t have to listen to you at all. I will be back when you’ll find a subject that isn’t focused on mocking me,” he stated, picking up what was left of his beer and making a dramatic exit. To his surprise no one tried to stop him, the just laughed.

Sighing, he approached William’s table and collapsed in the booth next to his best friend. He had only realized Nozel and Fuegoleon were there as well. Patri regretted not having enough spare time to braid his hair properly today, Nozel was one of the few people who could appreciate the effort he usually put into it.

“Hi, can I hide here for a moment? They are being obnoxious.”

“Running away from your friends, elven boy?” Nozel mocked him. “Are you actually the giant egg person or just a joke?”

“Don’t embarrass yourself, Nozel,” Fuegoleon reprimanded his friend. “Shadow Palace was a splendid magic display and deserves respect. When you can make one yourself only then you’ll have the right to ridicule it.”

“Let it go, Nozel, he and William live in symbiosis, he just had to come,” Charlotte defended Patri and William nodded with a smile on his face.

“What did the little elves do to piss you off, brat?” Yami asked, lighting another cigarette although Patri was pretty sure smoking was forbidden in the bar.

“Fana and Raia just got really obsessed with the possibility of me and William dating and tried to convince the first years that we actually were,” Patri shrugged. “They got annoying.”

“No way!” Finral fake gasped since it didn’t surprise anyone at the table at all.

“Well, that is just tragic,“ Nozel added emotionlessly.

“Sorry, Patri, that’s probably my fault,” William sighed and his head dropped on Patri’s shoulder probably making matters even worse. But then again, Patri knew there was no way back now and just gave in, throwing his arm around William and bringing him closer. Since all William’s friends were used to it, they didn’t even blink.

“You know what you have to do in a situation like this?” Vanessa seriously. “Drink!”

She placed a shot glass in front of him and Patri didn’t think much about it, just drowned it in one go, cringing a little.

“Can I get one too?” William asked.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Patri tried to protest.

“Oh, honey, of course, you can!” Vanessa got another glass.

“Finral, go and order more vodka,” Yami ordered him.

“Why me?”

“You’re sitting the closest to the bar, don’t complain like my incompetent little sister, just go,” Nozel urged him. “And order me a sazerac.”

Finral left with poutting face. Patri watched as William drank the shot way too easily. It seemed that he was on the stage when the taste of vodka didn’t even matter.

“So get this, Zora wants to start a trap club,” Yami brought up a new subject.

“What is that supposed to be?” Charlotte questioned.

“And do you mean traps-traps or traps who are pretty boys looking like pretty girls?” Vanessa got curious.

“No idea. But knowing Zora, it could be both. He loves all kinds of traps. Even though he’s straight he would include the other traps just for the traps.”

“I’m sure Julius wants to have a tournament for club founds next year, he will definitely ask them to make a trap maze,” Fuegoleon hummed.

“But wait, if he’s starting the new club, he’s leaving the fencing club?!” Vanessa was scandalized.

“You are acting as if he was actually fencing there,” William commented. “Even Nozel’s little sister that he always complains about got in and I’m pretty sure she can’t fence.”

“But that’s the magic of the fencing club! No one can fence there! They just meet up for fun!”

“That is not how clubs are supposed to look like,” Fuegoleon frowned. “But if you create bonds and make each other better people, clubs like yours are important. Much more important than the chemistry club Nozel uses to develop new hair products for himself and his family.”

“We have a few annoying first years now,” Yami complained. “They all want to fence. Even Nozel's sister. But especially the loud one. Asta or something. He just keeps yelling.”

“It’s Asta,” Finral assured him.

“How charming you remember your first year’s names, Yami,” William smiled.

“Like you know all of yours, Vangeance.”

“I do,” William stated with confidence. “Yuno, Mimosa, Letoile, Klaus and I still can’t believe that Langris got suspended for the exams so he’s still a first-year.”

“What about my little brother?” Finral joined in, carrying a whole tray of full vodka shot glasses and an obscure looking cosmopolitan that he put in front of Vanessa and Nozel’s elegant sazerac.

“Wanna tell us a story about how Langris got suspended?”

“But you all know the story,” Finral was clearly embarrassed.

“Come on, tell us,” Venessa encouraged him.

“Fine but first let’s drink, to me finally having a girlfriend, thanks to my little brother embarrassing the shit out of our family! Cheers!”

“Cheers!” they all raised their glasses.

After that, Finral started telling his story about how he’s parents tried to arrange an engagement between his little brother and their childhood friend, how William tempted Langris into very time-consuming plant research that made him overworked and irritated all the time, and finally, how Langris took all the anger out on Finral, causing an amazing spatial magic battle in the middle of the university’s official picnic event. Headmaster Julius let them fight for a while, protecting other students and allowing them to resolve their issues.

In the middle of the story, Patri felt that even though the whole table was focused on Finral’s story, one pair of eyes was glaring at him for a while. Of course, it was William.

“What?” he whispered.

“I think, I’m very drunk,” William confessed, still looking at him and probably not paying attention to the other people at all.

“I can see that,” Patri muttered, trying to dismiss William.

“Hey, Patri, you’re not mad that because of me your club thinks you’re dating me?”

“I don’t mind. I like you, William. It doesn’t bother me you get a bit touchy when you’re drunk as long as it’s with me, not some stranger,” Patri twisted facts a little but the core remained true. Even though it embarrassed the hell out of him, he didn’t mind that William got close to him.

“I won’t. It’s hard to find someone so interesting and pretty.”

“Shut up, you’re the pretty one.”

For once, instead of denying it, William just smiled softly. Before Patri understood what was happening, he got even closer, bringing his face to the same level and then closed the distance with a slow, tender kiss. Patri closed his eyes and let himself be happy for a moment as he opened his mouth a bit, responding to William’s movements.

It wasn’t as if they never did this, it has already happened plenty of times. Well, maybe plenty was too much. But from time to time he would get drunk kisses from William, although it usually was just a peck on the lips. How long the kiss lasted this time around was yet another proof of how intoxicated William was right now but even though he should be responsible right now, Patri couldn’t help himself not to bring him closer. William opened his mouth a little bit more, drawing Patri in even more. His hands clutched on William’s shirt, unwilling to let go.

“For fuck’s sake, Vangeance, even if it was a gay bar, that’s just below human decency,” Yami’s harsh voice interrupted them.

They slowly pulled away from each other and Patri wasn’t feeling embarrassed or awkward at all, just happy. That was it, William made him happy.

“Don’t be jealous, Yami,” William smirked, turning to face everyone but his side still leaning on Patri.

“Of what? Your lack of social standards?”

Vanessa seemed rather proud of him, contrary to Yami.

“Taking what you want boy, that’s the attitude! I’m buying you your next drink!”

“Please, don’t,” Patri begged her. “He’s had enough already.”

“Don’t be such a mean wife, Patri!” Vanessa huffed.

Meanwhile, William was trying to grow a little forest in the middle of the table, no bigger than a plate. Yami, without a second thought, set it on fire with his cigarette butt.

“Isn’t Charlotte this group’s mean wife?”

One glare from Charlotte at her boyfriend and Yami had his katana out, just a few centimetres away from his face. The remains of the little forest got crushed under one of his boots, to William’s horror.

“Why do you always bring a katana to the bar?!” Finral yelled in panic.

“Not that I care much,” Yami addressed Patri. “But people are telling me I should do something when they say bad things about my girlfriend. But to be honest, this is stupid, she’s a fucking magic knight, she can defend herself.”

“Thank you Yami,” Charlotte nodded blushing a bit. “You can sit down now.”

“Good, that was stupid and pointless.”

Patri felt something poking his shoulder and not on William’s side. He looked up to see Raia and Fana with worried expressions on their faces.

“Hey, Patri, can we talk to you?”

“Sure, just give me a sec,” Patri turned to William. “Will you be okay?”

“I guess so. But it’s so chivalrous of you to worry about me,” William’s smile shined brightly.

“Remember not to drink much, okay? Don’t make big trees. Don’t make people trip on the roots. And don’t kiss other people.”

“I never kiss other people,” William pouted and Patri was embarrassed how happy it made him. “Only trees. From time to time.”

“And if you need me, I will be right there, so just call me, okay?”

“I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

“Must you two always act like that?” Yami groaned but restrained himself from any further remarks when Charlotte put her hand on his arm.

“Bye, William,” Patri said. “Bye,” he repeated to the rest.

Before they even walked away, another vivid discussion started. Patri sometimes envied how easily the group would get along. Everything they did seemed awfully fun. Not that he didn’t love his own friends, it was just that William’s group had more... joyful aura. It was especially visible now when he was face to face with Fana’s angry glare in the bar corner where they had pulled him, far away from anyone they knew.

“Don’t you love us, Patri?”

“Why ever would you doubt that?”

“What Fana means,” Raia elaborated. “Is that she’s mad that you didn’t update on you and the human being a thing now. Hurt our feelings, man. You know we mock you a lot but we love you and will accept you, no matter what. ”

“Guys. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“We are talking about you, throwing away your elven rules and following your heart! I know we kind of made a joke out of it for years and we kinda thought you two are joking at first but really, you don’t have to hide anything from us! If you have gotten together with William for real you should have told us!”

“Oh,” Patri finally understood what they were talking about. “Yeah, so William and I are not a thing. He’s just kind of touchy when he’s drunk. But since we’re finally talking about it,” Patri felt really drunk and decided to speak up. “I really love William. And your mocking is annoying the hell out of me so please, stop. Forever.”

Fana gasped.

“Raia, I told you! He didn’t tell us that he loves William on purpose! He thought we didn’t know! He actually thought we were just mocking him about a crush from three years ago. We are not stupid, Patri, and we know you. We knew it had to be love.”

“Sorry, bro,” Raia put his hand on Patri’s shoulder. “We’ve known for at least two years. Hell, we kind of had a hunch when those years ago when you knew William just for a few months and you told us about your little crush. First years know too. Hell, I think literally everyone knows, including William. But nice that you’ve finally opened up. Now, finally, we know that you do love and trust us,” he smiled warmly. “Seriously tho, we just saw you two acting all cute together tonight and we were pretty sure you decided to not tell us about getting together either. And that hurt, man. We’re friends. We want to know things about you.”

Patri felt worn out. He let out a tired sigh. He knew William probably didn’t know and that there was no way they would stop their jokes now. Still, having told them, he felt somewhat relieved.

“I just... thought you would make ridicule the whole thing even more. And, for your information, he doesn’t know. But whatever. Can we go back to the table? It’s not good to leave the kids alone,” he reminded them.

“Wait!” Fana stopped him to out of the blue crush him in a hug. “I’m sure that even if he doesn’t now, one day he’ll love you back. That’s why I and Raia keep making those jokes, it’s because we believe it’s a story with a happy ending.”

Patri wanted to protest at first but in the end, he just embraced her in a hug.

“Thank you, Fana. It means a lot.”

When they came back to the elves’ table, they were faced with chaos and yelling. It had seemed that one of the first years, Rades, was just pretending to be an elf, hiding his human ears under a headband. To tell the truth, Patri wasn’t surprised. It was pretty rare to see an elf with a grimoire with just a few pages. Now, some elves were screaming and urging him to leave, a few others we defending him. Yuno was just sipping his drink and watching the whole drama.

As soon as they approached, Rades threw himself at Patri.

“Master Patri! I’m sorry, I’m not an elf! I know my grimoire doesn’t have many spells but I honestly wanted to be in your club! When during the first week of the semester I was depressed because everyone looked down on me but then you actually noticed me, a lowly first year, and told me it doesn’t matter how many pages my grimoire has but what I do with the spells and how. No one ever believed in me this way before! When I heard you had a club, I had to join!”

Patri was yet again confused that he’d become someone’s authority. It happened way too often. Patri had no idea why people were so inspired by him and chose to follow him. He wished his or William’s friends respected him half as much.

He did what he usually did in confusing situations like this. He thought what Licht would do and did exactly that.

He smiled a bit to make everyone around calm down. He might have used also a little bit of magic for that.

“It’s true, magic can be many great things. But are you sure you want to be in our club? It’s an elven magic club. Our magic is quite different than human magic. I’m not sure we’ll be able to help you grow to your full potential here.”

“I don’t care! Please, let me stay!”

“We shouldn’t discriminate anyone because of their race if you want to grow, we would be more than happy to try helping you,” he smiled again but on the inside, he cursed Licht and Lumière for endorsing him with so many liberal ideas. “Maybe we can also learn how to work with human magic better, don’t you think?”

The table nodded. Patri felt great relief because he had no idea what he would do if they disagreed with him. But fortunately, he had always been rather charismatic.

“It’s like hearing Licht himself,” another new joiner gasped.

“It must be the family resemblance,” Fana added.

Maybe they mocked him a lot but actually, his club was one of the most popular in the university. And there were not only members but also tons of elves who would just drop by and ask about the magic. Even though there were so many running jokes about Patri, he was still a good and respected leader.

“Does anyone oppose to this human joining our club?” Patri asked.

Fortunately, everyone who seemed to mind looked too shy to say anything at this moment, probably intimidated by his authority. Patri used those few seconds of silence skillfully.

“Then, I officially accept you. I look forward to working with you.”

Even if a few elves were unhappy about the decision, Patri managed to convince them on the course of the next two drinks. Then, somehow he ended up chatting with Yuno, who seemed to be far more than accepting. It turned out, Yuno was an orphan raised by human peasants and planned on taking over a country when he was little but since such an egalitarian person as Lumière would be taking over in foreseeable future he didn’t feel the urge anymore. He generally believed that no one should be discriminated due to their social status or magic amount. Patri had to agree not only with his views but also with what William had told him about Yuno. That boy was indeed smart, mature and what was even more important, capable enough to make those two useful.

It was getting late and soon there were just a few people at the table left, talking about how Lumière will change the country. It took everything from Patri not to out his almost family member as a chaotic, nerd fashionist.

He almost broke when they had asked him about the wedding. But fortunately, Yami chose this moment to drop William’s dead body on him. Patri managed to stand up and catch him although it had been one of the greatest fitness achievements of his life. He tossed an angry glare at Yami and Charlotte.

“Oh my god, I told you not to let him drink too much!” Patri panicked. “Is he okay?”

“Geez, he just fell asleep. You could probably even wake him up if you tried,” Yami rolled his eyes.

“And can’t you take him home? Don’t you have Finral and...”

“Finral just used spatial magic trying to take Vanessa and the others home,” Charlotte explained. “They are on the other side of the country right now and can’t seem to get back. They used Fuegoleon’s and Nozel’s magic to make a camp and sleep it off.”

Patri gritted his teeth. Humans. As irresponsible and unreliable as always.

“Why would you all drink so much?”

“Things,” Charlotte shrugged. “Maybe William will tell you a story in the morning, maybe not.”

“Speaking of,” Yami suddenly grew more ominous and threatening. “If you will use this situation to do anything that William won’t like tomorrow, I will personally make sure you’ll regret it,” Yami lowered his voice. “And don’t think that since William says you’re his best friend and you’re desperately in love with him, I will let it slide. Do not touch Vangeance. Or I’ll kill you.”

Charlotte's cheeks turned pink and eyes sparkled as she watched Yami’s display. She even took one step closer suddenly acting like a little girl approaching her crush. Patri, on the contrary, was rather outraged and angry Yami would suspect him of something but deep down a bit happy that William had friends who cared so much about him.

“Now do some fancy light magic and get him safe in his bed. And put a lot of water next to it,” Yami ordered. “I and Charlotte are going home.”

“You two are seriously just leaving me here like that?”

“What? It’s your bestie, it’s late, you are going to the same room even, after all. So yes, we are,” Charlotte mightily stated, returning to her usual self. “Let’s go, Yami.”

“Wait!” Patri stopped them. “A-about the other thing... the me being in love with William thing,” he almost whispered, embarrassed to the core of his soul. “Does he know?”

“He would be rather oblivious if he did not,” Charlotte shrugged.

“But William is sometimes naïve as fuck so who knows. Anyway, have fun, we leave.”

Patri sighed and watched them walk away. Then, he concentrated and created a long shining plank in a shape of sword floating around his waist level where he put William down. He could have sworn William smiled a little bit when he felt Patri’s magic touch him.

Then, he took a few steps to the elf table.

“So, I have to take William home now. Bye.”

“Bye, let’s have a beer again,” Yuno proposed.

“Have fun, Patri,” Raia winked.

“Stop it. It was creepy.”

“Would you rather I said have fun cleaning up after if he pukes?”

“That’s even worse. And he’ll probably just sleep until morning.”

William indeed didn’t wake up on the way to the dorms. He didn’t wake up when Patri dropped him on the bed, took off his mask since it seemed extremely uncomfortable to sleep in and covered him with a blanket.

However, when Patri came back from his shower, dressed in pajamas and ready to sleep, holding two glasses of water of him and William in time of need, William seemed to have moved from his own bed to Patri’s.

Patri wasn’t even surprised by that. He didn’t even sigh.

“No way you’re sleeping in my bed with your dirty clothes on,” he stated.

William made an unhappy grumble noise and honestly, Patri expected to be just ignored but William lifted a little bit, with his eyes still closed, took off his shirt and threw it on the floor with his pants and socks coming after.

“Want some pajamas?”

“No.”

“Water?”

William nodded and Patri passed him a glass. William drunk almost half of it at once.

“Are you okay?” Patri asked taking the glass away from William.

“I think. You coming here?”

“I’ll go to the kitchen and get some more water for later,” Patri said.

“Thank you, Patri,” William sounded tired. “Can you please tell my bonsais goodnight from me?”

Patri wished he was surprised. He just accepted it two years ago. He sighed and approached bonsai’s one by one, doing also a small checkup while he was at it, making sure they were all watered and weren’t missing any leaves.

“And a bad night to you, Zenon, I wish you have tree nightmares for all the nightmares you gave me this week,” Patri ended.

“He doesn’t mean that, Zenon!” William calmed the plant down. “But thank you, Patri.”

“No problem.”

Then, with glasses filled and placed on the shelf next to the bed, Patri sneaked under the covers next to William. Immediately, arms wrapped around him.

“Thank you for always caring after me, Patri,” William whispered into the crook of his neck.

“It’s nothing, William.”

“Sorry for getting drunk even though you told me not to,” William continued.

“It’s fine. Can I ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“Do you believe Zenon really hates me? And will eventually come to kill me?”

“No, I don’t think so. You respect that he has his rights. Remember that plants do deserve human rights on occasion, Patri.”

“Not only because it’s right but also since there can be a mage capable of making them come alive and take revenge, I know,” Patri repeated what William once told him. “But, please, if you ever learn the spell to do this, don’t cast it on Zenon. Please.”

“We’ll see about that. Hey, can you turn the little lights on?”

“I thought we were going to sleep now?”

“I like falling asleep with your lights on.”

Patri used his magic and made thousands of little glimmering light under the celling that in all looked like a midnight sky. William smiled and took his hand. The lights flickered and shifted, becoming branches and leaves of a gloving tree, with the sky still above them.

“Our magic looks so well together.”

“It does.”

“I’m so happy that I’m here with you, Patri.”

“I know that feeling. I love you, William,” he said, not entirely sure what exactly he meant. Maybe just the comfort, like the one they were feeling right now.

“I love you too. Goodnight. Sweet, Zenon-free dreams.”


	2. Chapter 2

Patri expected they would have a slow morning, sleeping until noon, finally forcing themselves to get up, maybe going out for brunch if William was up to it.

He did not think he would wake up to the wonderfully pleasant hoarse voice of Yami Sukehiro who was furiously punching their door so hard it would probably break if it was not protected by magic spells they have cast on it.

“Vangeance! Open the fuck up!”

Patri sleepily opened his eyes and suddenly was face to face with William.

“Hello, Patri. Did you sleep well?”

“I could sleep some more... And you? How are you feeling?”

“Good, I think. Just a little thirsty.”

“There is water on the shelf,” Patri told him.

“Oh, right, you put it there yesterday. Thank you, Patri.”

In a casual but caring gesture, William caressed Patri’s cheek. It was nothing for him but it made Patri’s heart race. He immediately looked down and pulled the covers over his head to hide his embarrassment.

“Mind if I stay like this? I’m not awake enough to deal with Yami,” Patri explained.

“Sure, whatever you are comfortable with.”

“Vangeance! I can literally hear you and the elf talking! So open the fucking door!”

William opened the door as he usually did, he used the roots of the little tree he had put the closest to the door and made them open the lock. Yami immediately stormed in.

“Did you steal my motorcycle keys yesterday?”

“I think so. I didn’t want you to drunk drive after all. It is rather dangerous,” Patri heard William explaining. “They should be in my pants pocket. You’re standing on them.”

“Fuck, you’re disgusting... Are you naked, Vangeance? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

William laughed.

“You are so fragile, Yami. Are your keys there?”

“Pardon me for not being too excited about touching your pants. Fine, I have them, you drunk thief. Why the hell did you take them?”

“I told you, drunk driving, I was worried about you, I suppose.”

“How thoughtful of you. Little elf, remember what we talked about yesterday? Do I need to kill you?”

“Please don’t,” Patri muttered under the cover and felt William caress him over the material.

“Leave Patri alone, Yami,” William ordered him with no particular emotion in his voice. “I happen to like him quite a lot and you just keep trying to scare him.”

“Whatever.” Yami sounded exasperated. “So are you and the elf a thing now? I want to know if I have to ask Vanessa to get me some eye patches so I don’t have to look at you two.”

Patri froze under covers when he heard the sound of William’ laugh. He knew that it was probably not possible for them to get together, still, he thought William respected him enough to at least not laugh at it. It hurt. It hurt badly.

“Fuck, Vangeance, your laugh is creepy, stop it. ”

“It’s just so funny how everyone keeps thinking there is something between us when there is no way there would be. Seriously, Yami, we just kiss sometimes when we’re drunk. Patri is a good kisser, you know.”

Great, William had to make it worse. But maybe he was just imagining it or William’s voice grew a little sad as he was speaking. Never the less, Patri lost his will to live.

“That I really didn’t need to know,” Yami sounded disgusted. “Anyway, I’ll get going. Good luck with your father.”

Patri had no idea what Yami was talking about. Of course, he knew about William’s father but he hasn’t heard anything about him for months now. He felt like his whole relation with William was a lie at this point.

“Thanks,” William muttered a lot more quietly. “Hey, Patri, would you like to have a brunch with me?”

“I’m not in the mood now,” Patri tried desperately to keep his voice from shaking.

“Okay, sleep some more if you need too,” William’s hand snuck under the covers and petted Patri’s head. “Do you want me to bring you something?”

“No, I’m good. I’m just going to sleep some more.”

“Okay. Sweet dreams. Come, Yami, I’ll buy you a sandwich.”

“I don’t need a sandwich from you, weirdo.”

Patri waited until their bickering voices stopped and the door closed before finally taking off the covers from his face. They felt heavy. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down but the panic in him started rising.

It wasn’t just the fact that for William he was just one of his friends. It wasn’t even the fact that William clearly didn’t love him back and literally laughed off the idea of dating him. It kind of made sense. Maybe it was all just a drunk joke.

But, definitely, the worst part was the fact that he had wasted three years loving William, he changed his views, he tried to be a better person thanks to him and now he had just a little over one year of living together left. Then, they would graduate. And there would be no reason for being so close when they were adults. Until this point, he ignored that fault, hoping that something would happen, they would maybe get together at some point. But now, he was sure it wasn’t going to happen. He felt so lonely.

His depressing thoughts were suddenly cracked by the knock on the door.

“Patri, can I come in?” Licht asked.

“It’s open,” Patri said and lack of enthusiasm in his voice was easy to hear.

Licht walked in and carefully closed the door behind him. For a while, he just stared at Patri who was still lying down in his bed.

“Hi, Patri. Yami texted me that you’re probably having a breakdown.”

“Yami did?” Patri’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t expect him to be this emphatic. How are you here so fast?”

“My fiancé has light magic,” Licht smiled with love at the mention of Lumière. “And now he’s probably running around the school looking for strange magic since he's such a nerd.”

“Good luck to him.”

“So, what happened?” Licht asked, sitting down next to Patri.

“I passed my exam,” Patri boasted a bit, trying not to turn out too lame in front of Licht. Also, to postpone the inevitable subject.

“That’s great!”

“I also think my club members like me. Raia and Fana are still making fun of me but they are doing it out of love, I guess,” Patri continued.

“You have good friends, Patri.”

“William kissed me yesterday when he was drunk. And he was nice to me. But he’s always nice to me so it’s not that special...”

“Patri, every moment you spend with someone you love is special.”

“William laughed when Yami insinuated that we could actually be together. It’s different when we ridicule random people who just assume we are a couple because we are extremely close, but it was Yami, someone who knows William really well, and he asked an honest question. And William laughed. Then, they mentioned something about William’s dad that I know nothing about even though I thought William tells me everything. What if I’m just not as popular as he is and I look too much into that? What if we are not even close friends? I mean, I know that we are or at least we think that we are but what if we’re not actually? What if we’re that close because we’re living together? And in a year and a half when we graduate, we’ll start drifting apart and I’ll have to live without seeing him all the time, without him obsessing about roots and leaves, no one holding my hand when I get lonely and... I’m terrified of it.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Licht told him honestly.

“I know. But there are some good sides to it, you know?”

“I don’t think it matters since you’re being overdramatic but please, tell me.”

“I was always stressing out that if I ever told him I loved him, he would constantly worry about my feelings, taking them into account all the time, because that’s the kind of person he is, he wouldn’t want to hurt me. And now, since I know his answer to my confession, if that ever would happen, I don’t have to think about it anymore!”

“Patri. First of all, you have no idea what is it about William’s father. What if, I don’t know, he got a call from him yesterday evening? Would he have the time to tell you”

“Well... “ Patri dropped his eyes. “I guess... not really.”

“Leave the poor boy alone, Patri. You can say a lot of things about William but he means well. You can’t possibly blame him for not telling you something immediately. Give him a chance to,” Licht ordered him.

“F-fine. I will But that doesn’t change the fact that he laughed earlier. But I guess that’s just my life.”

“Sorry, Patri. I always feel like it’s partially my fault that things always turn out this way for you. I always end up pushing you too hard to interact with humans. Like when I encouraged you to go to mixed primary school and you ended up being bullied.”

“Yeah, it was bad at first but you taught me sword tricks and eventually I beat them up. And Licht... whatever happens, I’m glad I’m here. I love William, I’m happy that I know him. Thank you.”

“You are so weird, Patri. You don’t seem to be panicking so badly anymore,” Licht petted Patri’s hair like if he was a puppy.

“Yeah, you always... calm me down.

”Remember to call me, when you feel bad. I will come.”

“I don’t want to bother you too much. You and Lumière are busy, wedding, maybe taking over the country, you know.”

“If Lumière has time for his own fashion line in between I can make time for my little cousin,” Licht stated like it was obvious. “I love you, Patri, and I will always make time for you.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask because at first I really hated Lumière’s guts but how did you two work it out in the beginning?”

Licht froze, clearly shaken by what Patri just said.

“You never told me you hated Lumière,” he said, not even with anger, more sadness.

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t want to worry you,” Patri jerked away, trying to hide his embarrassment. “You know. I wanted to live with you when I graduated from high school. And then, he came out of nowhere, was so human, and you know well I despised humans in general, he wrapped his arm around me and said that we have so much in common since we both like you and we have light magic. Those are literally the only things we have in common. So yeah. We didn’t get along at first. Or at least I didn’t get along with him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“But I really respect him now. Like, he may seem this annoying airhead who talks too much at first but he’s actually very capable and smart. I’m really happy you two are getting married and he’ll be family.”

“Thank you, Patri. I know it took a lot from you to give him a chance.”

“William helped. He’s the first human I genuinely liked. So? The story?”

“About me and Lumière? It’s pretty simple. His sister got caught up in a magic tornado she created herself, I saved her, walked her home and met Lumière, we got caught up talking in the gate for an hour... But at first, we were just friends for some time. Lumière and I turned out to have the same views about how elves and humans should get to know each other better and then we started taking each other places, I took him home so he could see how elves live...”

“Are you telling me when you first brought him for a dinner you two weren’t dating?”

“You thought we were?”

“The whole family was. Literally, one of the worst dinners of my life. First, you bring a human home. Then, he strangles me and tells me we’re magic bros and he ‘totally approves of my fashion’ whereas I _totally_ didn’t approve of his. Then mom gave him the last piece of cake that I wanted. And all through the evening, you two kept ogling each other like you two were meant to be and whispered to each other...”

“I was explaining our customs to him so he would be polite...”

“But absolutely the worse was that we’ve never seen you smiling so much. We all assumed that you’d eventually tell us you two are dating. And you did.”

“If it makes you feel better, it's pretty similar to the way you and William are acting now whenever I see you two in one room together,” Licht mentioned.

“It makes me feel worse. I mean, me and William will never happen, and you two are getting married and will rule the country together.”

“Looks like I should have brought chocolate ice cream for that,” Licht sighed.

“Right, breakfast,” Patri remembered. “A croissant wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Do you want to go out to the bakery? You can also tell me to go by myself and get you one, I don’t mind.”

“You are too good, Licht,” Patri sighed.

He slowly seated and stretched a bit. Then, he took a few gulps from the glass by the bed. Finally, he felt able to stand up.

“Okay, we’ll go. Just give me a few minutes to dress up and wash my face.”

“Sure, Patri,” Licht said, making himself comfortable on his bed, already reaching out for the phone.

“Are you seriously going to text your boyfriend ten seconds after I said that for a moment I don’t need your complete attention?” Patri overdramatized, knowing well, what he was doing.

“I’m in love, of course, I will,” Licht informed him. “Can Lumière go with us to the bakery? Never mind, he said he’s just been there.”

“Licht?” Patri asked, staring at his cousin’s fingers tapping at the keyboard with incredible speed.

“Hm?”

“Don’t tell Lumière I used to hate him. He’s the kind of person who would make a bigger deal out of it than I want it to be.”

Licht looked up from his phone and glared at Patri for a while.

“Yeah... You’re right. I won’t keep things away from him but I can put it more delicately so he will barely notice. Are you two really okay now, Patri? You don’t have to lie to me if you’re not, we’ll work it out somehow.”

“No, we’re good. I think. Not that he’s my favorite person but I respect him a lot. And he’s... similar to you in many ways. I can’t dislike him anymore, even if I wanted.”

Licht brightened up.

“Thank you for giving him a chance, Patri.”

“That’s all your fault for telling me over and over that humans aren’t that bad. Well, you were right. They aren’t good either but some are quite okay.”

“William has a really good influence on you,” Licht’s lips curved in a smile. “Wow, Lumière got me a muffin. I love him so much... Oh. He dropped it when he was taking the photo. ”

“How can someone with light magic drop anything on the ground?”

“You drop things all the time, Patri, but we don’t mock you about it. Actually, remember that time when Raia knocked over William’s bonsai and you used some crazy spell to land it safely?”

“That one you do mock me for.”

Patri sighed and dragged out some clothes from the closet. He excused himself to get ready and when he came back, of course, Licht was still on his phone.

“You are addicted to a human. That’s a safety hazard, you know” he pointed out.

“I’m just reading stuff about human court I should know. It’s messed up but Lumière is doing his best to accept our culture and I want to accept his wholeheartedly.”

He managed to convince Licht to get up and go to the bakery with him. They were over halfway there, already out of the university campus, when Patri sensed familiar magic and immediately stopped.

“Let’s go around. Like, let’s make a really big circle. Starting by going back.”

“That’s my fiancé you’re trying to run away from,” Licht pointed out, standing still in one place, clearly unwilling to move.

“Yeah but... William’s with him for some reason. I’m not ready to face him, let’s just go,” he begged him.

“There is no point. Lumière surely already sensed me and is coming this way. He is my fiancé, Patri,” Licht reminded him.

“I should get a chocolate bar from you every time you push your happy relationship in my face.”

“Fine, I’ll make you a chocolate cake, when you come next time. Will that make you happy, little cousin?”

“I love you, Licht.”

“You are so cute,” Licht gave him one of his bright smiles and hugged him like he did when they were still kids. Patri didn’t hesitate to crush him in his grasp.

“Hey! Easy there!” Lumière yelled, jumping on them. “That’s my husband to be!”

Of course, Patri’s luck was on his side as per usual and he lost his balance when the additional weight has been forced on him. Licht let him go, thinking Patri was taking a step back on his own and when he noticed that was not the case, it was too late.

Patri would have fallen, if he hasn’t been stopped by William’s arm, safely bringing him to his chest. Patri had no idea how William was always there to catch him, it seemed to be some supernatural power.

He let himself take a moment to rest his head in the crook of William’s neck. He let out a long sigh because, as per usual, William smelled way too nice, especially for someone who has spent last night drinking and neglected a shower. The scent of forest seemed to cover everything up.

William gave him a little squeeze.

“Weren’t you supposed to have breakfast with Yami?”

“He ditched me, left for the toilet and never came back. But I have some croissants, would you like to eat them with me?”

William was too perfect. Patri hesitantly looked up and turned to face Lumière and Licht, who, fortunately, were just holding hands. Patri could live with that, he could even consider it cute.

“Hey, Tetia has doctor’s appointment soon, we should go,” Lumière squeezed Licht’s hand.

Licht looked straight at his cousin. At this point, Patri knew that even one movement or sign on his part and Licht would not leave him now. Patri felt reassured, knowing, he had someone who cared about him so much. And he had William. Who bought him croissants. Who, even if he would never end up loving Patri back romantically, did love him in his own, a bit peculiar way.

“Go to the doctor’s. Good luck,” he urged them with a smile.

“Okay,” Licht agreed. “Patri, remember to call or text me later.”

As they walked away, William looked at Patri quizzingly.

“Did something happen?”

“Just Licht overreacting,” Patri gave him a feigned smile.

“Really?” William cocked his head to the left, easily seeing through his friend’s act.

“Really,” Patri lied. “I might have had a little crisis a moment ago but I’m fine now,” he swore.

“Really?”

“William, I am.”

William didn’t say anything else. He enveloped his arms around Patri wrapping in a gentle hug. Patri closed his eyes and let himself imagine that this moment would last forever. But unfortunately, William eventually took a step back.

“You can always come to me, Patri. Whether you want to talk or don’t. I like being around you, no matter what mood you’re in. Now, let’s find a big tree we can sit under and finally eat breakfast.”

“Just make one there,” Patri pointed out to the green space next to the pavement.

“That would be disrespectful towards other plants. If I remember correctly, there is a tree around that corner.”

Of course, William knew all the trees in the neighborhood by heart and indeed, in a secluded corner alley a tall tree cast a shadow over buildings that looked like they were abandoned.

“Why do you know all the creepy places around here?”

“Well, would you like to know,” William smirked and sat down by the tree. “Hey, Patri... You are not upset by something I did yesterday? I don’t think I said or did anything exceptionally weird but if I did, just tell me.”

“You did nothing not usual for drunk you William, don’t worry,” Patri rolled his eyes and picked up a croissant.

“Was I too touchy?”

“I don’t mind you being touchy, we’ve been over this. I don’t even mind that right now everyone in my club thinks we’re dating, well everyone except for Raia and Fana because they know we are not.”

“Wow, I must have been even worse than usual yesterday. I think it’s because of the mask, it was nice to wear something that took people’s attention off my scars.”

“Yeah, like you are not astonishingly pretty with your scars,” Patri averted his eyes.

“Only you think so, Patri. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that my father texted me yesterday.”

“What did he write?”

“My stepmom gave birth yesterday. I have a little brother. They didn’t even invite me over, he just texted me that he’s coming over to have a tea with me tomorrow. That awfully sounds like he’s going to officially disinherit me but I guess that’s what is going to be. I was honestly scared I won’t be able to graduate with you or study trees, so I drunk emailed Julius about scholarships and Marx already got back to me that I’m a valued student and the university will do everything in its power to keep me here.”

“I’m so sorry your family is like that, William,” Patri squeezed his hand that he didn’t even realize he started holding. “Also, it kind of creeps me out that Marx works on weekends.”

“I’m okay with my family, I got used to it. I’m still lucky that they took care of me the way they did. So listen, I thought...” William smiled a little. “I’m gonna come out to my dad. It’s better to get this over ourselves than to wonder when he’s finally going to decide I’m not worthy of the family name.”

“Hey, if it goes bad, you can always come live with my family. Elves are better anyway.”

William snorted and finally opened the bag of croissants. He seemed lighter, happier. Not only because of chocolate.

***

“I should have never told you about this,” Patri hit his head against the table, hating himself and everyone around him except for Licht. But right now even when it came down to Licht his feelings were ambiguous.

The day before, he might have panicked and made a stupid decision as per usual by told Lumière and Licht about William’s meeting with his father. He has guessed they would end up tempting him with the offer to spy on them together but he would have never expected them to be so professional about it.

Of course, it wouldn’t be so simple if Lumière wasn’t the future king. However, he just had to show up for the tea house to offer him a private table on the balcony where they could watch everyone downstairs without being noticed.

What is more, Lumière, being a magic nerd that he was, kept in touch with Julius about all the interesting magic discoveries and experiments at the university. That’s how they’d ended up having four more people at the table. Lumière assumed it would be much better to not only see the whole situation but also to hear it so he engaged Finral and Asta, a first-year from the fencing club. Finral’s magic didn’t allow eavesdropping but when Asta was using antimagic by poking the portal with the end of his sword, it created a disruption and they could indeed hear what was going on on the other side, which happened to be right under William’s table. Vanessa tagged along with Finral since she hoped for a free tea and Yami claimed he was there because leaving Asta alone would be a disaster but Patri thought he actually came because he was worried about William.

Still, it Patri was under impression that what they were doing was an absolute betrayal of William’s trust and heavy violation of his privacy. Patri was pretty sure that horror about the trees was nothing compared to what was going to happen to him. And William would have every right to punish him.

So why was he doing it? Why on Earth was he sitting at this table?

“Patri, cheer up. We have a plan,” Licht reminded him.

Their plan was almost as terrible as the whole setup. They were just waiting for Lord Vangeance to disinherit William and strip him from the title. Then, Lumière would step in and as the rightful heir to the throne, he would publicly give William his nobility back. Lumière even looked up adopting people into the royal family but it was impossible. Still, the plan was not bad as it was right now.

Everyone at the table was excited about this possibility. Patri also thought would be incredibly cool. Not that Patri wished even worse relations between William and his family. Or that William wouldn’t be mad if he found out about the spying. But still, it would be cool if Lumière did it.

“You all are such assholes for making me spy on William,” Patri repeated.

“Asta. Keep the stick straight.” Yami ordered emotionlessly.

“Yes, sir!”

Balancing almost steadily while standing on the chair, Asta groaned as he swerved the sword a little right. Voices of William and his father immediately became much clearer, although still, they were rather quiet.

“So how are you, William? Just be kind to only mention the things that may affect the family.”

“I got a study grant for my research.”

“It’s good that someone is appreciating your hobby. Makes it seem less silly.”

“I would rather you accepted that it’s not only my hobby, father, it’s my life.”

“Well, if you were my sole heir, I would insist otherwise but as we know that’s not the case anymore.”

“May I ask what are your plans for me now? I doubt your wife wishes I visit.”

“It’s unnecessary. Of course, it will be your brother, who will be the next head of the family, that’s obvious. He’s the rightful heir, my legitimate son. I think it’s not needed to take you out of the family tree unless you embarrass us in some way. Also, I would prefer you’d make as little public appearance as possible. Your face isn’t pleasant to look at. It’s clear that no one will ever love you and marry you willingly, they would only do so trying to buy their way into a noble family, keep that in mind. Good thing now I don’t have to struggle with finding you a proper wife now because with your condition it would be...”

“You don’t need to worry about it at all. I’m gay. Not that it changes much.”

“God. Can you damage our family more by the sole fact of existing?”

“I’m sorry that I was born as your illegitimate son. I’m sorry that I have a scar. I’m sorry my magic isn’t what you were hoping it would be. I’m sorry I’m...”

Probably to the rest of the table, William sounded ironic and full of spite. But Patri knew William wouldn’t be so passive-aggressive if he was really okay. And he could hear that his voice was trembling.

Patri felt so guilty about what they were doing. And also devastated because even though he knew that William had trouble with his family, he never thought his father could so easily bring him to this stage, especially since William was one of the most collected people Patri knew at all times.

“Turn it off,” Patri ordered.

“What?”

Asta clearly didn’t understand so Patri just shot him with a light magic ball, making the boy fall on the ground. Without looking at anyone else, without even thinking about it, Patri stood up and ran down the stairs to save William. In a few seconds, he was right next to their table, suddenly terrified, frozen, unable to come up with a proper plan. The shock on William’s face didn’t make things easier.

“Patri, what are you doing here?”

“I... need to talk to you. It’s important. Could you come? Nice to finally meet you, Lord Vangeance,” he added at the end since, by the time he remembered that he should greet the man properly, it was already too late.

“You look a little bit familiar... Aren’t you the elf that is marrying prince Lumière? Has William done something to bother you?”

“Oh, no. And that’s my cousin Licht. He’s the one marrying Lumière.”

“Patri is my friend,” William said, averting their eyes. “Excuse me, father, I should be gone only a few minutes.”

Patri led William back upstairs. William was glaring suspiciously at both him and the group they have found on the balcony. But he seemed to be too occupied with other things to be upset or ask questions.

“All of you out,” Patri demanded, wanting some privacy.

It seemed like they were all scared of William’s reaction when he found out so they quickly ran downstairs. Finally, Patri and William were alone.

Patri wasn’t good at dealing with William’s problems. He absolutely hated seeing William suffer and it made him often even more upset than William. Still, William talked to him about his family, uncaring mother, abusive step-mother, father who treated him as the necessary evil, stain on the family tree. But seeing William interact with one of these people in real life was completely different than hearing about it.

“Sorry,” Patri said. “I just... wanted to get you out of there,” he clumsily explained. “You seemed to be... not okay.”

“Thank you, Patri,” William’s tone was hard to place, it was as if he tried to stay as calm as possible while he was breaking on the inside. “Why are you even here?”

“I was worried about you... I...”

“It’s fine, Patri,” William interrupted him. “It’s not like he’s telling things that I don’t already know well myself. I know my trees are not the best career choice. I know my face is making people cringe. I know that probably I will never find someone who will love me, no matter if I’m gay or straight. I just don’t like hearing it from him.”

“That’s not true, none of it.”

“You are just saying it, Patri,” William sighed heavily. “But thank you. It was still nice to catch a breath. I should go back downstairs. I don’t want to upset father even more.”

He took a step back but Patri grabbed his sleeve, holding him in place.

“William, wait. You’re a wonderful person and... Your trees are awesome and...Don’t think that no one will ever love you, please. I do,” Patri almost whispered the second part.

“I love you too,” William gave him a small, timid smile. “I’m really happy I have a friend like you, Patri.”

Patri didn’t let him go. Instead, he dropped his eyes to the floor, unable to look at William, and continued quietly, terrified by his own words:

“I meant... I love you. I really love you, William. You are kind, considerate, funny, smart, always putting others before yourself, and even your face, for me it’s beautiful. And you do these little things like naming all your bonsais or talking to them or how you sing when you iron your shirts or...when I think about all of those little things I can’t stop smiling. And there is the... Sorry, it must be horribly awkward. I just don’t want you to think that no one will ever love you. Sorry. if I’m ruining our friendship right now but I couldn’t look at you putting yourself down like this when you are one of the most amazing people I have ever met and... It’s fine if you don’t love me back, completely fine, I get it I’m... me after all, so you’re not to blame at all, but... please, keep being friends with me,” he blabbered. “Please, William. Sorry.”

A heavy, long silence fell upon them. Patri could feel the panic rise in him. Focused on the floor, he could feel his hand tremble, clutching onto William’s sleeve while William stood completely still.

It was wrong, completely wrong. Patri’s breathing was getting quicker, more shallow. It was it. Even though it was pointless, he told William and now their friendship was over. It was a mistake. He was a mistake, why would he even think that his confession would make William feel better. Of course, he was feeling worse, anyone would feel worse if they found out their depressing friend was having a crush on them all along.

Would William stay friends with him just because he was kind and scared of leaving Patri alone? It would be terrible. Patri was starting to feel dizzy. His breath got faster, uneven.

He just lost the best friend he has ever had because he just couldn’t shut up. He knew that William wasn’t interested in him so why talk? It wasn’t making William feel better for sure, no one would feel better after finding out their friend and roommate has been checking them out, thinking about kissing them, maybe planning their lives together.

He was so creepy. No wonder William said nothing, he was too kind to yell at him but he probably wanted to. And Patri deserved it.

“Patri, take a deep breath in... and out. You are panicking again, try calming down. Breath in and out. Yami said my shoes are fugly, what do you think about them, Patri?” William spoke up out of the blue, touching Patri’s cheek and gently bringing him back to reality. “Everything is fine, just concentrate on the shoes and breathing.”

Patri knew at this point that he managed to make this whole confession even worse. He could feel himself panic even more but did his best to toss those thoughts away and just focus on breathing and William’s shoes.

William’s slacks were weird but not _fugly_ , as Yami had put it. Patri’s seen a ton of worse shoes. However, they were a bit too fancy to wear as casually as William did.

“They are not bad... Just horribly unpractical,” Patri answered with shaking voice.

“What is so unpractical? In and out, Patri,” William reminded him about breathing and Patri tried to obey.

“The heels. They should be flatter. And... they will get dirty really easily.”

“And what about the details? Breath in and out, Patri.”

Patri focused on the shoes, trying to even his breath. They were green and covered with little flowers.

“I like the color and the floral pattern. But red shoelaces are too much. It’s tacky.”

“Really? What color should I use?”

“Black would be the best, maybe.”

“You know I don’t like black.”

“Literally anything would be better. Even gold would be less of an eyesore.”

“Gold you say?”

“Oh, my god, don’t buy golden shoelaces!”

Patri finally looked up in horror and found William smiling.

“You’re not panicking anymore. Good. Sorry, I reacted a bit late, I was slightly shocked by what you said.”

Patri again wanted to hide under ground.

“I’m so, so sorry William.”

“Don’t be. Whatever happens, we’ll always stay friends, remember that,” Patri nodded. “You are the closest friend I’ve ever had and I’m not letting you go. Is it okay to talk about it or you need a few minutes? I promise it won’t be bad, Patri,” William reassured him.

“Okay,” he sighed, still a little afraid.

“Are you sure? Drink some water first, you’re really pale.”

They sat down by the table in silence that was much more comfortable than the previous one. William was holding Patri’s hand, not letting him forget that he was there then and he would always be. Finally, Patri reached the bottom of his glass and put it down.

“You’re better now?” William asked.

“Yes. Your father won’t be angry that you’re still here?”

“You’re important to me. Much more important than he is.”

“Okay. I’m ready. Now, you can kindly turn me down.”

”You really shouldn't put yourself down like that,” William rolled his eyes.

“You’re the one to talk. You’re always acting so perfect and confident until you just... collapse.”

“I only let this side of me show in front of you if you must know,” William looked away. “So do you want to hear what I have to say?

Patri nodded, suddenly feeling too terrified to speak. He tried not to let it show but it was hard. His hand involuntarily clenched on William’s.

"To be honest with you, Patri, I never thought about us together. Romantically, I mean. Well, never until now.”

“Literally everyone around us, even Yami, joking about it wasn’t enough of a hint?”

“I like those jokes, they are funny,” William said gently. “Well, they were funny, now they are kind of sad. But I never thought someone like you would be interested in someone like me so I even never considered it as a possibility.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You know. When we first met, you gave me a speech about how much you dislike humans. You kept mentioning that Licht’s and Lumière’s relationship is weird probably won’t work out. And well, my face and self-esteem did a lot too.”

“I really think you are...” Patri wanted to protest but William never gave him a chance.

“I never noticed that you were thinking about me this way. I’m sorry. I guess I have hurt you quite a lot, Patri.”

“You didn’t William, really. Not much anyway, you mostly made me happy. That’s why can we, please, stay the way we were?”

William cocked his head.

“I would rather not. I like you, Patri, generally as a person. And I never hid the fact that I find you attractive. So anyway, if you are in love with me, I don’t see why I shouldn’t give it a try.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” gave him one of his best smiles, sincere, warm and full of hope.

“I love you so much. It’s so good to finally say it.”

“You are being so cute, Patri, “ William giggled.

Patri felt like crying. He hugged William, probably looking almost desperate as he clung to him, and hid his face in the crook of William’s neck. They stayed like this for a few minutes, in comfortable silence, William slowly caressing Patri’s hair.

“Patri? We could stay like this for a while, I guess,” William said quietly. “But father is going to kill me for making him wait for so long. We’ll talk later, okay? I should probably get downstairs.”

“Right. Your father. I will walk you to the table and apologize for keeping you for so long.”

“You can stay here. You just almost had a panic attack Patri,” William pointed out. “Just stay here and keep calm, okay?”

“I’m all good now,” Patri promised even though he was still feeling a little bit emotionally unstable.

“I used to think you can’t lie to me because I can see through it like just now but on the other hand you managed to keep the fact you loved me away so I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Fine. But still, I don’t want to be alone. It’s better that I go down with you and find Licht,” Patri explained.

“That sounds like a good plan. By the way, Patri, can I ask... for how long did you have feelings for me?” William asked, feigning casual tone but Patri could see right away that this question is important for him.

“I guess... around three years.”

To his surprise instead of being weirded out, William seemed content.

“Three years... You must be pretty serious about it.”

“I don’t want to pressure you, William,” Patri sent him an apologetic glare.

“You’re not,” William assured him and stood up. 

Still holding Patri’s hand, they walked downstairs. Patri noticed that the group he came with has split, Yami, Vanessa, Finral and Asta were glaring at the cakes by the counter making barista frown. To Patri’s horror, Lumière and Licht took a rather different approach by joining lord Vangeance at his table.

William took a deep breath and went up to them, dragging Patri along, however, he let go of his hand just before they got there.

“I’m sorry it took so long, father.”

“William, you’ve never mentioned how close you are with the Prince and the elven leaders!” lord Vangeance smiled at his son, clearly finally satisfied by something William did. “And Patri, it is a pleasure to meet you. I wish you good luck in becoming Licht’s advisor when you graduate. It may seem challenging but it would be great for him to have someone close he can trust.”

Patri could only imagine what Licht and Lumière were telling him when he and William were gone.

“That’s what we are planning,” Patri agreed.

“Good thing you are so progressive with your friendships, William,” his father praised him. “Getting along with elves is very important in our times, our nations should get to know each other better and integrate more.”

“I’m glad to hear you say this, lord Vangeance,” Lumière smiled sweetly. “We four keep hanging out together all the time. Patri and Licht are pretty much like brothers.”

A waiter smartly stood by until the future king didn’t finish and then took a step closer professionally offering:

“Would you like we brought more chairs and your teas from the other table?”

“Oh, there is no need. Now, that Licht got Patri back, we should return to our table. Always a pleasure, lord Vangeance,” Lumière politely said his goodbyes.

“Likewise, my Prince. I’m glad to have finally met your betrothed,” lord Vangeance nodded.

“And I am glad to discover we share certain views,” Licht picked up. “Pardon my young cousin’s rudeness again. He seems to lose his head quite a lot when it comes to your son.”

Patri’s jaw dropped. He knew Licht probably didn’t mean it the wrong way but he felt terribly embarrassed.

“Licht, don’t be mean,” William nudged him with an elbow. “Patri really had something urgent to tell me.”

“Still, it was inappropriate,” Patri dropped his eyes. “I am sorry for interrupting you, lord Vangeance. We won’t bother you longer. See you later, William,” he added trying to sound as natural as possible.

“Bye,” William gave him yet another smile and sat back down in front of his father.

The three of them went back upstairs, on the way hinting to the fencing club members that they should do the same. They sat down by the table, next to what was left of their tea.

“It was funny,” Lumière stated.

“I just hope Patri’s little emotional outbreak was worth it,” Licht sighed. “He was nice to us but I don’t like how he treats William at all.”

“Sorry,” Patri dropped his eyes.

“I’m happy you care about someone so much, Patri,” Licht smiled. “Caring is good.”

“Baby elf, why William is so smug right now?” Vanessa jumped up to him as soon as she got upstairs. “Did you say something awfully romantic?”

“That brat is a coward, there is no way that he would,” Yami came close after, lighting his cigarette on the way.

Finral by his side cringed and created a little portal for the smoke to go through.

“Patri is brave, don’t underestimate him,” Licht insisted. “Where did you lose the boy with my old swords?”

“We figured that after Patri got violent we were done spying for today so we bought Asta a cake and sent him home,” Finral shrugged.

“Maybe that’s better, now we can question Patri about William without worrying about his dignity, everyone here knows he has close to none when it comes to the man he loves,” Vanessa smiled charmingly, sipping on her Irish coffee.

“There isn’t much to tell,” Patri answered them. “And I really shouldn’t... talk about it by myself.”

“You are so cute, Patri,” Finral cooed. “Your devotion is so beautiful.”

“Vangence is coming here after he’s done with his old man, right?” Yami made sure.

“Probably,” Lumière nodded.

“So Patri, what did you say to William after throwing us all out?” Vanessa pretended to sound innocent.

“You know what? I’m not telling you anything,” Patri blushed a little. “All you ever want to hear is my embarrassing stories and how I make fool out of myself. Maybe you’ll tell me a story? Each one of you. I deserve it,” he demanded so harshly even he was surprised with himself.

“No way,” Yami stated.

“Actually, I think it would be pretty fair,” Lumière shrugged.

“I don’t think our stories can match your stories, Patri,” Licht smiled softly. “You are a true champion at times.”

“Ok, come on, Licht,” Lumière snorted. “You can tell him the thing. It’s pretty close.”

“No,” Licht camly denied.

“Please,” Patri pushed, not willing to give up, glaring at Licht intensely.

Licht sighed heavily.

“Fine. But do not tell people. I’m serious. It could hurt Lumière if people knew and he’s the love of my life,” he insisted.

“So we’re sharing? Huh, okay,” Finral agreed still a little unconvinced.

“It’s going to be so much fun!” Vanessa squealed.

“You are all crazy,” Yami sighed. “Nothing leaves this table.”

“Licht, talk,” Patri insisted.

“Lumière?” Licht looked to the side hopefully.

“It’s your story love, sorry, you are telling this one.”

Licht let out a long sigh.

“So, actually, before I started going out with Lumière, I had...,” Licht took a deep breath. “I might have tried to go out with his sister and got stood up by her?”

“Wow, you really can’t tell this story,” Lumière stepped in, rolling his eyes. “So, he handsomely saved my sister from a magic tornado, flirted with her, asked her out, she said yes and it would be perfect but then he decided to walk her home and well, they bumped into me in the gate, we started talking. We really hit it off, Tetia literally left at some point and neither of us noticed. But they still had a date to go to. And the day they were supposed to have that dinner Tetia comes to my room and orders me to go instead since Licht clearly likes me more. So I go there, thinking why not, and there is Licht with flowers who wanted to apologize to Tetia for this thing with me and tell her that he really did like her. I’m pretty sure if Tetia went there she would be the one marrying him right now, not me.”

“She wouldn’t be,” Licht averted his eyes.

“Deny it all you want, you were pretty hot for her. But yeah. I guess I won.”

“You can only imagine how horribly awkward it was when we got together with Lumière,” Licht paled. “And now she’s pregnant with our baby. It makes me feel even more awkward. And the worst part is Lumière and Tetia are super cool about it and they think I’m overreacting when clearly it’s not okay,” Licht let out an angry rant that didn’t really suit him. “That lovable asshole is literally laughing at me when I have a crisis over it.”

“Me and Tetia are siblings and besties, of course, we’ll be cool and keep on laughing at you, Licht,” Lumière smirked. “And I’m just joking when I talk about you marrying Tetia. We all know you’d fall for me sooner or later so Tetia made a really good call backing out so early and supporting us all the way.”

“I like Tetia even more now,” Vanessa said.

“Wow, Licht, when you are acting so dramatic like this, you look and sound so much like Patri,” Finral mentioned.

“Am I literally the only person who sees the problem?” Licht sighed grimly.

“I get it,” Patri shyly nodded. “I mean but you only hit on her, right? Nothing happened? So it’s okay. But you,” he pointed to Lumière, “are too cool. I would be devasted if William flirted with Licht before me.”

“You’re such a drama queen, Patri,” Lumière shrugged. “I get it, my sister is pretty, and I’m a guy so it’s not an obvious choice. What is important is that now I have Licht all to myself, and we are getting married in less than a month, isn’t that awesome?”

“Okay, so who’s next?” Vanessa decided to move on. “Yami?”

“No.”

“Okay, so Vanessa and I actually share the embarrassing story,” Finral took over. “So a few months back the Black Bulls ran into this Spade aristocrat called Dante. Really crazy, super-powerful gravitation magic, you can imagine. He even talks about himself in the third person from time to time.”

“And he was an asshole but then sees my fate controlling cat and tells me: ‘You are my women now’,” Vanessa lowered her voice and mimicked how pretentious Dante sounded like.

“Vanessa kindly spilt her drink on his face and declined but the dude kept coming.”

“One time, he came to our club, started throwing pine trees...”

At that mention, Patri’s eyes darted to the main part of the restaurant, checking up on William. He looked good, even a bit relaxed, with a casual smirk on his face. Lord Vengeance was leaning in, he seemed to be explaining something. Patri felt relief, seeing that. It almost looked normal.

“... and the dude called Venessa his woman in like every sentence,” Finral continued outraged. “So together we decided to destroy him.”

“We went a ball he organized at his mansion pretending to be a pretentious couple and started ruining all his furniture. Right after we came in, we bumped into Langris and he promised to help us which should have been a hint. When Langris destroys things we always get in trouble.”

“So we made holes in his hedges, teleported half of the sculptures to the other sides of the garden...”

“Made knit balls of every textile we found, there was no curtain left, we also broke into his closet... I personally changed everything so it would be a fashion disaster,” Vanessa said.

“And when it was all done we decided to join the party. Just so we could steal all the food. It turned out to be a huge party. Headmaster Julius was there.”

“My girlfriend too and it was so awkward because I came with Vanessa,” Finral sighed.

“And get this, Dante approaches us at this moment, tells, Finral’s girlfriend not to worry because I’m his future wife. Then, he raised his glass and made a loud announcement that we are going to get married. In front of everyone.”

“I remember it, we were there with Tetia!” Lumière shone with childish enthusiasm.

“And then, Dante gave a speech about how powerful and strong I am and how he needs me in his life because we are a perfect match,” Vanessa hit her head on the table.

“So I apologize to Finesse, grab Vanessa, open a portal and we ran away. But that asshole hit us with gravitation magic and we ended up in Nozel’s castle. And he was in the middle of his hair routine, you wouldn’t believe how much cosmetics he has. And when we saw it, he almost killed us if not for Vanessa’s cat. I opened another portal and this time we got away for good.”

“Finesse granduncle got really pissed and Finral’s girlfriend almost got engaged to his brother. And headmaster Julius ever since then has been spying on me,” Venessa confessed. “He seems to think we’re in some strange love triangle,” she sighed. “He gave me chocolates in shapes of Finral and Dante. It was the most horrifying and tasty thing I have ever eaten,” she confessed.

“Finesse trusts me but the royal family is really pissed now,” Finral groaned. “I think I will have to wait for Lumière to become a king before I try getting serious with her.”

“Don’t worry, he’ll help you,” Licht promised in his future husband’s stead.

“Fine, even though I knew some parts of it, it was a satisfying story,” Patri accepted it. “Yami? And don’t think the story about your gay moment with William is enough, William told me all about it. It’s much lamer than it sounds.”

Yami groaned loudly.

“Hey, why haven’t we heard this one?“ Finral was outraged.

“There’s no story. We were still in high school, Julius was shipping us, he kept on pushing us into awkward situations. That’s it. “

“William told me that you said pretty cool stuff,” Patri shrugged. “You know, when he came out.”

“Just how much do you two talk?” Yami lit another cigarette.

“It’s wonderful how they share everything,” Licht nodded.

“Except for the fact that Patri’s in love but that’s just a detail,” Lumière ridiculed him.

“So, what did you say to William?” Vanessa asked.

“Usual stuff. That I’ll beat up anyone who will cause him problems or call him names,” Yami shrugged.

“It was very sweet, I heard,” Patri took over. “William said it was one of the most important moments of your friendship. Especially since the very next day you got into a fight because of it and he had to save you.”

“I didn’t need saving, Vangeance just wanted to push trees into other people’s faces,” Yami sighed. “So let’s move on. Lumière, your turn.”

“Nope, this one doesn’t count,” Patri shook his head. “A story Yami.”

“Fine,” he sighed heavily. “So a few years back, me and Jack were training fencing in a park we might have cut a few trees by accident. William got really pissed about it and when we were taking shower after training, he made a big ass tree in the middle of the yard and used branches and roots to steal our clothes. The ones from dorms too so we couldn’t ask anyone to bring us new ones. And he sat there happily on one of the higher branches like a fucking princess and when we tried to jump up, he would just make tree move out of our reach. We looked like fucking idiots, jumping all around in just towels.”

“Why didn’t you ask Charlotte? Or Vanessa? With their magic, it would be pretty easy,” Finral suggested.

“Shut up. It was a matter of honor as Jack said,” Yami grumbled. “Anyway, we finally decided on a sneak attack. We went inside the faculty building and planned to jump from a window. We got stuck for twenty minutes, pretty much naked, under Julius’s desk because he suddenly came in just when we were passing. Of course, he eventually found us and gave us a few tips about how to increase our chances of surprising William and getting our clothes back. It was good. But then Marx came and started fucking yelling so loud William noticed us. We decided to fuck it at this point, went straight to William’s dorms, stole his clothes and wore them until he gave ours back.”

“That is why William’s red T-shirt suddenly got so stretched out it’s only good for sleeping now,” Patri gasped. “I accept this story. Lumière?”

“You know all my stories,” the prince shrugged innocently. “I usually tell you right away when I explode something or make a fool of myself.”

“Well, since you told them my story, I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t tell yours,” Licht smiled a little mischievously. “So when we started going out, I noticed that every other week Lumière is coming up with some dumb excuses why he can’t meet me. Like going fishing. Or hiking. Can you imagine him hiking?”

“Hey! I go hiking! Once I even went with you!”

“You kept insisting we just fly to the top of the mountain, not to mention that you wanted to go home after twenty minutes,” Licht rolled his eyes. “But get this. I eventually found out he was doing meeting with Headmaster Julius.”

“I knew it! I knew you two were gossiping about everyone!” Vanessa gasped.

“I teamed up with Marx because he also got suspicious about Julius’s schedule,” Licht continued. “And get this, after meeting in a secluded spot they’d change their clothes, dress up to be totally incognito, and then they would go spy ‘looking for amazing magic’ as Lumière had put it later when he explained. Basically, they were being nerdish stalkers either looking for weird magic or stalking their favorite mages.”

“You use such terrible words,” Lumière hid his face behind his palms. “We were conducting research.”

“I still wonder how you could have stalked on people with powerful magic before and never met Licht,” Patri cocked his head.

Lumière mumbled something into his hands.

“Speak up princess,” Yami urged.

“Elves are hard to _observe_. They sense magic better. We had... an incident with Julius and we decided not to... _research_ elves this way.”

“No matter how you put it it’s creepy as fuck,” Vanessa stated.

“It’s not!” Lumière finally showed his face. “It’s a system that allows Julius to find young talents for his scholarships! How do you think he’d found Yami or William?”

“Fuck,” Yami dropped his cigarette.

William chose this moment to appear next to the table. He took an empty chair and pulled it so he could seat next to Patri.

“Yami? You okay?” he asked his friend.

“You two got a scholarship because Julius stalked on you and thought you were cool. How does that make you feel?” Patri said.

William smiled softly.

“Good. That means I deserved it.”

“Are you crazy, Vangeance?” Yami glared at him.

“No, I’m just happy I picked Julius’s interest and that he liked what I did with my magic and me. Without him, I’d probably go wherever my father would order me to and that would make me miserable. So I’m happy that he’s such a weird nerd.”

“Lumière goes stalking with him from time to time,” Finral added.

“Well, that is creepy,” William claimed immediately.

“You don’t get it,” Lumière made a dramatical whim. “It’s all for science!”

“William, things went better with your father after we left you?” Licht changed the subject.

“Oh, yes,” William let out a small giggle. “Thank you for coming there, he’s treating me much better now that he knows I’m friends with you two. And Patri...” William turned. “My father praised me only a few times in my whole life and one of those was for seducing you. It’s hilarious. ”

“What?”

“Apparently, my father thinks I made an excellent political alliance by stealing your heart and he is very much looking forward to a wedding. And he came to this conclusion all by himself.”

“Well, he wouldn’t be the first to assume we are together,” Patri tried to shrug it off by a joke.

William cocked his head a little, looking straight into Patri’s eyes. Patri smiled but at him but froze when William’s hand found it’s way on his tigh and just casually kept laying there until Patri shyly entwined it with his own. William seemed to be unbothered, he didn’t even blink but Patri’s heart was beating loudly.

“William!” Vanessa called him out. “What did Patri say to you when he threw us out?”

“Oh, it was very cute. He saw I was upset and wanted to make me feel better but he almost had a panic attack when he started talking about feelings.”

“You almost had a panic attack?!” Licht straightened up. “Patri, I’m not mad at you but you need to tell me things like that.”

“William took care of me,” Patri dropped his eyes. “And it’s not a big deal.”

“Patri,” Licht sighed. “Fine, do what you want. But remember you never bother me and I will always try to help you.”

“I’m so envious,” William sighed. “I wish I had someone who worried so much about me.”

“You have Patri,” Yami pointed out.

“And you too, my sweet brute,” William blew him a kiss and Yami cringed. “Oh, wait. Can I still do that or you’ll get jealous?” he darted to Patri.

“I won’t get jealous over Yami,” Patri sighed and only then he realized all eyes were on him. “What?”

“What did you mean by that, Vangeance?” Yami asked.

“I’m just being thoughtful,” William gave him one of his best smiles.

“But about what?!” Vanessa demanded more information.

William’s grin got a little bit mischievous as he leaned in. Patri was so embarrassed he couldn’t speak.

“That... is a secret,” William revealed. “Right, Patri?”

Patri took a deep breath and did his best to look calm and composed.

“Yes. It’s a secret. Maybe one day you’ll find out, maybe you won’t,” he said, matching William’s tone.

“You two totally made out,” Finral stated.

“Please, they did that already on Friday,” Vanessa dismissed him.

Patri guessed that Licht already knew because he was just staring at Patri in shock, alongside with Lumière.

“Actually, I and Patri need to go and talk about our secrets,” William stood up. “Bye.”

“Bye, see you all later.”

“Patri! We’re super happy for you!” Lumière yelled before they left.

“Good luck,” Licht grinned along with him.

“Thanks,” Patri smiled back, feeling a lot lighter now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! ~  
> I know I said two chapters but I guess I needed a little more closure.  
> So there you go! Y（・ω‐）Y

Nothing has changed. Literally, nothing.

At first, it calmed Patri down. He felt no pressure from William, no strange questions, no pushing, nothing that might have been considered invasive. They were friends just like before except for the fact that Patri has confessed and William accepted it. For the first few days after he was actually terrified of William. He had no idea how to act when they were alone and felt extremely self-aware. The fact that William respected his boundaries was much appreciated for a few days but then, Patri slowly started panicking again.

Because, in theory, they were dating. After all, William said that he wouldn’t mind if they gave it a go. But there was nothing going on between them suggesting that their relationship evolved. Patri would even say it regressed since he was still feeling awkward and tended to run away from William and touch him as little as possible so William wouldn’t find him pushy or misunderstand anything.

Except now every time William casually touched him, Patri would get extremely flustered and freak out a little since he never knew if William was doing it out of habit or he realized what those simple touches meant to the lovesick Patri and was doing it on purpose. He suspected the first one but if the second one would turn out to be true, he would have no idea what to do. William has noticed his weird behavior and maybe was more cautious because of it so everything actually might have started to take turn for the worse.

They went out to eat almost as often as always, they watched dramas, texted, and generally behaved exactly as before but avoided mentioning anything related to the confession or feelings. Patri guessed, William was uncertain about how to behave and he himself was even less since he was the one who pushed them into the current situation but never really thought passed confessing and happy ever after.

Literally, the most emotional talk they had was when Patri had a breakdown at three am about his art project due to the following morning and he couldn’t find the right colors to make it great. William kept yawning as Patri talked his ear off about it but loyally stayed awake.

Speaking of which, his art was going terrible. For two weeks he hasn’t done even a single caricature of William’s friends and that used to be almost a daily routine for him. However, he sketched a lot of trees. Because of William, he was quite used to doing it, and nature’s perfect symmetry always calmed him down as he drew.

Patri really wanted this phase to be over. He knew he should just talk it over with William but instead, he kept running away mostly to his club since it was safe. Of course, that didn’t slip William’s attention and although he didn’t say anything, he glared and that was enough for Patri to think it through and make an effort to try coming home early. But, on the very first day of his resolution, he has already failed when on his way to the dorms, small but strong arms grabbed him from behind.

“Patri!” Dorothy sang joyfully. “Let’s have a cup of tea.”

“I really shouldn’t,” he tried to struggle but without much effort.

“Come on. I heard rumors,” she whispered mischievously right into his ear. “Very, very interesting ones.”

Patri was weak against the power of gossip. He wasn’t fooling anyone by putting up a fight, not even himself. He sighed and gave in.

After all, it wasn’t as today he had any plan about how to talk to William either.

“Fine. But just one cup. And let’s be quick today.”

The pink glow of Dorothy’s magic swallowed him up and suddenly, he was sitting on a comfortable couch in her dream world. This time gravity seemed to work fine, which he noticed with relief. Still, there were a lot of strange objects flying around them in the pink mist. Like a giant lion statue with a teddy bear riding it.

Dorothy was sitting in a comfy armchair right in front of him. She poured the tea into two huge violet mugs. It smelled nice, a little floral.

“How is Licht and Lumiere’s wedding planning?”

“Not too bad. Sorry to disappoint you but no drama here, they are getting married this weekend,” Patri took the mug from her. “How is spying on Yami and Charlotte?”

“I need an excuse to pull Yami here,” she said pensively. “Charlotte is too embarrassed to talk. And Yami is being mean, I ask him and he pretends he doesn’t hear me. I need to know what their relationship is like. I need it,” she insisted.

“I get it. I mean, I know this relationship works and is kind of awesome but I want details. And William isn’t helping me,” Patri sighed.

“Three years and you didn’t convince him?”

“Okay, listen,” Patri leaned in a little. “It may be just an impression but... William might not know it either. I came to the conclusion that he and Yami don’t talk that much about who they are dating.”

Dorothy gasped.

“But they are so close! Wait. You said William and dating in one sentence and you didn’t stutter!” she smirked. “Congrats! Now you’re just one step away from asking him out!”

Patri blushed and tried to hide it by drinking his tea. He supposed William didn’t say anything about not telling people but he wasn’t feeling confident enough about this relationship to talk about it. Also, there was a thing that Dorothy was a terrible gossip girl. She claimed that everything said in this room was perfectly safe and she wouldn’t tell anyone but Patri found it hard to believe.

“I going to be super nice and awesome and I’ll let you be for now,” Dorothy winked. “But get this- you know Charmy?”

“Yeah? I think? She’s the little girl from Black Bulls?”

“Rill is in love with her.”

“What,” Patri’s jaw dropped.

“I know,” Dorothy’s eyes sparkled. “I didn’t see it coming but I love them! They would be so cute and little together! And just imagine their magic combined! It would be the best, the most beautiful food ever! Just imagine if Rill mastered edible paint thanks to her, their wedding cake would be legendary!”

“Wow,” Patri was still stuck analyzing what was going on. He really appreciated that Dorothy could help him take his mind of the things that kept on worrying him.

Like William and what was going to happen with them from now on.

He quickly diverted the thoughts back to Rill and Charmy, trying to focus on them and the mug in front of him.

“And the best part is...” Dorothy continued. “Rill doesn’t know who the girl is! He met her by chance and then she went away and he’s pining so hard! I tried to help him find her but he told me that first, he wants to look for her himself,” she rolled her eyes. “Man’s honor is sometimes really stupid.”

“I think Rill is trying to be romantic. He seems like the type.”

“And you, Patri? Are you romantic? What would you do in Rill’s situation?” Dorothy asked eagerly.

“I would want to find the person I have fallen in love on my own too. But... I don’t know if I’m exactly romantic,” Patri dropped his gaze. “I think I would like to be... but I don’t exactly have the confidence to pull the romantic shit off. I’m only sure of myself when I do club stuff or magic or when I know everyone already knows I can fuck up so there is little pressure. I think it’s just my character. I can’t even flirt with drunk William and that should be the easiest thing in the world for me but somehow it’s too terrifying.”

“Don’t mind it, I think you’re perfect, Patri,” a new voice spoke up, immediately causing Patri to look up. “Although, you could build up some courage and finally ask me out. I wouldn’t say no. We could have a picnic under a tree.”

Suddenly, William was sitting right next to him on the couch, glaring at him intensively. Patri jumped up, startled. He turned to Dorothy who was openly laughing at his reaction. Patri threw the mug at her but it stopped midair without spilling a single drop.

“Stop it! How dare you use my subconsciousness against me?!”

“But it’s so funny! And it’s your mind. Come on, talk to him! You can practice before talking to the real one!”

“No!”

“Can I brush your hair, Patri?” fake William asked cocking his head. “I haven’t touched it for over a week already, it feels terrible.”

“Make him go away, Dorothy!” Patri begged her.

“I thought you liked me, Patri,” fake William pulled him down on the couch. “So where is your great plan of making me fall for you? I gave this a shot, don’t go wasting it like you’ve been doing for two weeks now. You won’t even ask me to braid your hair anymore,” he pouted.

“OH MY GOD,” Dorothy squealed loudly.

“That’s not something William would say,” Patri glared at her. “And you know that.”

“Yes but this is something you are irrationally scared of! Oh my god, are you two dating now?!”

“Kind of,” Patri admitted.

“But we won’t be for much longer since he’s clearly not very good at it,” fake William added.

“Can you turn him back to the normal William?” Patri looked hopefully at his friend. “This one is mean.”

“There’s not much I can do,” she shrugged. “It’s your fear. You could concentrate on good memories to make it go away but if you get skeptical and fatalistic again, he’ll resurface.”

“Great,” Patri sighed. “And you won’t make him go away?”

“No. He’s telling me things that I want to know,” she giggled.

He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on the good memories. With William, it was easy since he was happy most of the time. Watching dramas and documentaries together, just studying, reading, going out to eat, talking bonsais, doing literally nothing but that strange, fantastic feeling of closeness was always there.

He felt warmth and comfort spreading inside as fake William caressed his hand to eventually hold it. He opened his eyes and smiled at him. Fake William smiled too and kissed him on the cheek.

Patri moved his eyes to Dorothy and blinked because she looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

“You are just.. the cutest. I can’t... This is too much love!” she hid her face in palm, trying to recover at least a bit.

“You realize that’s just my dream of William loving me back, right?”

“Not a dream!” she argued. “You’re dating now!”

“But I’m utter shit at it so soon we won’t!”

“Make an effort, Patri,” fake William leaned in closer. “Seduce me.”

“Seriously, he doesn’t make sense, make him go away!” Patri moved further away.

“But now he’s the voice of reason!” Dorothy protested enthusiastically. “So, tell me everything, and let’s think of a plan! Because I need you two together in my life!”

“You’ve been saying that ever since you dragged me here for the first time and figured out I’m in love with him,” Patri sighed. “But fine. Basically, I confessed, he said okay, sure, why not, I’m his best friend so if I want to, we can try dating. But it has been so awkward since then,” Patri sighed. “I even started avoiding him, it was so awkward. I feel that I already screwed up so badly that it’s beyond repair.”

“That’s not true,” fake William insisted. “I know you very well and I know what to expect from you. I understand that you’re scared, you’re someone who values friendship above everything and even though you’ve loved me for a while, it must be frightening that things could change between us. And you know that they will change now, either way.”

“Finally you’re making sense,” Patri glared at him. “But that’s way too privet and Dorothy is right there so shut up.”

“The thing is that I understand you, Patri,” William ignored him. “At least for the most part. And I respect you. So it’s going to be fine. Whatever happens, I will always be your best friend.”

“Thanks, fake William.”

Patri smiled weakly at him. The ghost smiled back and disappeared. He let out a relieved sigh and stood up to get his levitating tea back. Dorothy stared at him with sparkling eyes.

“What?” he finally asked after taking a long sip.

“Nothing. I’m just sparkling joy because of your overwhelming cuteness. Don’t worry, Patri, William is kind, he won’t get mad at you. You should ask him out for a proper date! Or get him a gift!”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, flowers!”

“He prefers trees.”

“A new bonsai!”

“He can grow it by himself.”

“I know! Buy him a fancy flowerpot!”

That actually sounded kind of nice. And William would appreciate it. But on the other hand, the windowsill wouldn’t fit a new bonsai, it was just too full.

He could always draw some more bonsai fanarts and comics. William loved those.

He really should be home already or William would think he’s avoiding him again. And he would be right.

“Dorothy, I think I should go now. He’s going to be disappointed if I’m late again,” Patri said. “But keep me updated on the Rill/Charmy situation.”

“Sure thing! And you work on William. I can’t wait to have a pajama party here with you two! We can also invite Charlotte and maybe Noelle or Mimosa, they are so cute! And Charmy so we can talk to her about Rill!”

Patri needed a moment to understand that she deemed him and William gay enough to invite them to girls’ pajama party. Personally, he was fine with it but he wasn’t so sure about William. And the worst part was that he wouldn’t know since William was too polite to turn down an invitation.

“Oh, and I’ll invite Fuegoleon!”

“Why Fuegoleon?” Patri asked too curious to ignore it.

“You wouldn’t believe how much he complains about his siblings and Nozel when he comes here,” she winked. “But that’s a secret.”

“I think William saw Charmy giving Yuno cupcakes,” Patri mentioned just before taking his last sip of tea.

“Oh no!”

“Don’t worry, I think William once said that Yuno probably didn’t even notice that she was interested. But I will ask him again. Now, let me go. We’ll talk another day.”

“Okay, okay! Have fun with your boyfriend!” she merrily wished him and released her magic.

He was back in the corridor. She’s just called William his boyfriend which sounded really odd but he guessed technically it was still true. He slowly started walking back to the dorms.

He wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted to do when he got there. He probably should do something like ask William out but he knew well that it was just impossible for him. But maybe today he would have enough confidence to talk to him normally and maybe hug him once. Small steps. Small steps were going to okay.

The fake vision he saw in Dorothy’s dream was really disturbing and confusing as it resurfaced exactly everything that he tried not to think about. He was feeling really bad about what was going on with William. He achieved his dream and that was nice but at the same time, he wished that he and William would just stay friends forever. He had a feeling that pursuing anything more would destroy what they had.

And the fact how pathetic he was about the whole ‘pursuing’ thing was far beyond what he expected. Licht would be disappointed if he knew but fortunately, he was too busy with the wedding to notice. Even Patri was disappointed in himself. There was no way William would suddenly love him back. And he had not thought this stage through. When he imagined them dating, he was always thinking about the happy ever after, not this.

He took out his phone since he could sense his thoughts turning in a bad direction and he needed to stop them. He had a few messages, mostly memes from Raia, and also one text from William. Over an hour ago William asked him if he wanted to eat something and he didn’t notice. He quickly texted him back and speeded up his pace to get to the dorms faster.

“You’re late again,” William said when Patri opened the door.

He was sitting by the desk, studying with the ugly bonsai Zenon right next to him. This didn’t look any different than two weeks ago before the whole confession thing happened and that familiarity calmed Patri down a little. Still, he was feeling rather guilty about pulling his best friend into this mess.

“Yeah, sorry, I was helping some first years with their test.”

One glare from William made him regret lying. He kept forgetting that it was pointless against William. He took a deep breath and tried his best to strike a normal conversation.

“And Dorothy kidnapped me on my way back. We had a cup of tea and gossiped like two side characters in a telenovela.”

William’s mouth twitched in an attempt to smile at Patri’s joke.

“Anything interesting?”

“A few things. But you said you were hungry?”

“So hungry,” William agreed. “I almost started texting people from my club if they wanted to have dinner with me. You can’t leave me alone with no food for so long, Patri. I hope you haven’t eaten?”

“No, we can go. Are you in mood for something?”

“Maybe we’ll try out the new Spade place? I heard that it’s pretty good.”

“Sure. Just let me brush my hair and we can go.”

“Oh, wait, can I braid your hair? I haven’t done it in a while.”

For a few seconds, Patri stood there, frozen on the spot. He did his best not to look into that. William liked taking care of his hair and styling it. And that was it. Just something William liked doing. Always.

He nodded, trying to smile but he wasn’t sure how the last part worked out. Probably not so good, judging from William’s expression.

They sat down as they usually did, Patri on the floor and Willaim on his bed behind him with brush and a handful of hairbands. He hummed happily as he touched Patri’s hair. It was so easy to make William happy like this.

“I kind of want to make a dozen tiny braids but then I would die from starvation before we left, I think.”

“Just one is enough,” Patri assured him.

“I keep thinking how funny two French braids would look like on your head,” William giggled.

“Maybe I’ll let you when we’re not going out but now, no way.”

“Fine, fine,” William agreed. “Just one Dutch braid.”

“No Dutch braids, please, they make me feel like reversed Nozel,” he begged.

“Okay, a French one if you insist.”

William’s fingers brushed against Patri’s ear, making him shiver. A moment later, William’s hand in hair lingered a little, caressing gently the spot on his scalp William knew that Patri liked. He wasn’t sure if William was really doing it on purpose, never the less, it made him blush.

“Hey, Patri?” William spoke up.

“Yes?”

“I think you look cute when you’re flustered so can stop running away now.”

“Sorry, what?” Patri looked up, bringing his head back.

“Don’t move or the braid is going to be crooked,” William kindly reminded him. “But... take your time, Patri. This whole us dating is a huge change and honestly, I don’t know what to do either. But I thought this through. We don’t need to rush. But I want to spend time with you and braid your hair so stop avoiding me, Patri.”

Patri let out a heavy sigh. He knew at some point this talk was going to happen.

“To be honest, it’s terrifying. I can’t stop thinking that this was a mistake,” he confessed. “Not that I don’t love you or... but I just feel like you’re giving up a lot to make me happy, again. You shouldn’t be so self-sacrificing. I’m not happy about risking our friendship but at least I’m in love with you so I can see some purpose in it but for you, it must be horrible. You can still say no and...” Patri could feel his heartbeat speeding up. “...we could go back to the way it was before.”

“Nah, I’ll pass,” to his surprise, William dismissed him completely. “I think there is much more to gain this way, Patri. It’s far too soon to give up. Okay, the braid is done,” he said.

Patri looked up and suddenly William’s face was directly above his. He blushed but didn’t move away. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from tossing a quick glare at William’s lips, just a few centimetres away. It would be easy to kiss him now but he wanted their first actual kiss to be better, more romantic, maybe after a proper date, in normal position.

And then, out of the blue, William dropped his head a bit, capturing Patri’s lips in a kiss. All his previous thoughts were immediately dismissed, he reached out to cup William’s cheeks and run fingers through his hair. William’s hand sneaked under his chin, adjusting his head a little and allowing them to deepen the kiss. Patri sighed happily into William’s mouth. The kiss was slow but intense and everything he’s been dreaming of.

That was until William’s stomach grumbled and he pulled away.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I must be really hungry.”

“You just kissed me,” Patri stated, still a little bit shocked.

“It shouldn’t surprise you, you’re my boyfriend and you have really pretty hair. Let’s go now, I’m starving.”

“Sure,” Patri smiled weakly.

They quickly found their shoes and left. It was already getting dark outside, the magic lamps on the streets were shining brightly. The Spade restaurant called ‘Mejucula’ that recently opened wasn’t too far from the dorms it was on the same street all the bars and shops university students frequented, right next to the campus.

William seemed rather pensive on the way. They got a table in the corner and Patri chose to seat next to William instead of in front of him just because the chair had nicer looking cushions.

Only then he noticed that William’s hand was lying there so close to him, looking so inviting. He waited until the waiter left and slipped his hand over William’s.

William looked down but after a second, he entwined his fingers with Patri’s. Patri loudly breathed out with relief which made William giggle.

“Don’t laugh at me. I’m an emotional wreck because of you,” Patri rolled his eyes.

“Don’t take it the wrong way but it’s a relief that you’re equally bad at relationships as I am,” William smiled.

“Shut up. You’re way too perfect,” Patri scoffed blushing a bit. “Hey, about... about the kiss... I know it was probably kind of weird but was it okay? You wouldn’t mind if I kissed you again when the mood is right?”

William glared at Patri with a strange expression that Patri has trouble placing. It was a strange mixture of embarrassment and confusion. Patri got it. He also felt it, especially now, when he was talking about the relationship with William. It was weird. Kind of surreal but embarrassing, never the less.

“That was certainly the weirdest position we kissed until now but I’m glad it turns out that doing it when sober is just as good and certainly less sloppy. So yes, I think we should kiss again.”

“Wait, the way you said it, it sounded just like it was the first time you kissed someone sober,” Patri noticed.

“Like you are any better,” William rolled his eyes. “I know you probably aren’t, Patri.”

Patri knew he wasn’t. William was literally the only person he’s ever kissed or wanted to kiss ever since that evening at Charlotte’s place three years ago when Patri was the life of the party until the moment he’d hit his breaking point and hid in the bathroom trying to escape his panic attack. William had pretty much barged in there, talked him out of it, hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. That was the moment Patri knew he loved him.

Later, after a lot more drinks, William saw that one of the roses on Charlotte’s balcony has wilted so he dropped everything to find a bigger flowerpot, convinced that bonsai’s company would surely bring the rose back to life. Patri still remembered William crouching on the floor, hands covered in soil, concentrating his magic to grow the bonsai. He was struck by it even worse than before, the next thing he knew, he dropped to his knees and kissed William. Unfortunately, Yami saw them and almost threw Patri down the street from the balcony.

“Fine, you might be the only person I have ever kissed. But with how naturally flirty you are and how casually you accepted when I first kissed you all these years ago, I expected you to be more used to things like that.”

“Please. Yami threatened to kill all the guys who tried to approach me.”

“Just how am I still alive?” Patri paled.

“That’s because you fought him when we were first years and almost won, that impressed him. And I’m always adamant about you being my best friend, Yami respects that, I hope.”

“Does he know about... you know.”

“You confessing and asking me out? Not yet,” William shrugged. “But I should tell him soon. You’d better practice some fencing with Licht to get in shape, just in case.”

“Great,” Patri sighed. “Licht won’t have time now because of the wedding, you know?”

Patri let go of William’s hand when he saw the waiter approaching with their steaming plates of Spade pasta. William’s had a little ominous blackish color but smelled nice. Patri chose a more conservative option with a lot of vegetables.

“Finally,” William said and grabbed on his fork as soon as the waiter left. “So... Dorothy told you anything interesting?”

“Oh, wait. Before we move on... I wanted to ask, do you and Yami talk about relationships? At all?”

William looked at him a little confused.

“Not really? He never goes too much into details. And can you imagine Yami talking about relationships? That man may seem like a bad boy but he’s a horrible prude.”

“I thought so but you two are close so...”

“I know a lot because Charlotte talks to me. But I guess things with Yami are going to change now.”

“Why?” Patri cocked his head.

“Because I tend to talk a lot about you and we’re together now.”

The natural way William has said it almost made Patri choke on his pasta.

“Don’t die. I always expected your death to be more epic than this.”

“So,” Patri changed the subject trying to preserve his dignity. “Rill has a crush on Charmy.”

“Charmy from Yami's club?”

“Yup.”

“No way,” William gasped. “That’s unexpected. But they are so little and cute when I think about it.”

“That’s exactly what Dorothy said. But to be honest, I thought so too she just beat me to it.”

“That’s because we’re best friends, Patri. I don’t get why she invites you over more often than me, we’re pretty much one person.”

“That’s because she’s enjoying creating you from my subconsciousness in her dream world and watching me freak out about it since I love you,” Patri explained calmly, keeping his cool for a change.

“Oh,” William realized and dropped his gaze. “I guess literally everyone knew except for me? This is so ironic since we’re so close.”

“I...” Patri started but changed his mind. “It’s because you trust me completely. You completely let your guard down in front of me and let me do anything, get away with anything. I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing, honestly.”

“Well...” William pondered, taking his time with the pasta. “I’m special to you. You’re special to me. That’s what makes this relationship one of the kind and makes me want to keep you in my life forever.”

Patri knew William meant it as a friend but still, he felt as if he was about to have a stroke.

“And Patri,” William slowly added. “There is something more I think I should tell you about it. But maybe when we’ll get home, okay?”

“O-okay,” Patri agreed.

“Back to Charmy, she’s hitting on Yuno.”

“And what about Yuno?”

“I don’t think that he realized. And even if, I doubt that he would be interested. But one can never know, I mean, look at us. No one in my club is going to believe me when I’ll tell them I’m in a relationship. Except for Langris, maybe. He seems like the type who’s going accept it immediately and then move on to tormenting you for fun.”

Patri started noticing that William constantly brought up their relationship in the conversation today. He was unsure whether it was a good or a bad sign but it was certainly better than the quiet omittance of the subject they were doing for the past two weeks.

“I’m almost scared,” Patri rolled his eyes. “How is it that none of my friends wants to kill you but most of yours do?”

“I guess I’m not the kind of person people want to fight,” William shrugged. “You, on the other hand, make enemies really easily. Maybe not exactly enemies. But you must admit that you have an astonishing number of frenemies.”

“I can’t exactly deny it,” Patri mumbled. “Especially, since I have to add your whole club in.”

“Is there something I don’t know?”

“Just that they all think you’re too good for me,” he sighed.

“But I don’t think I am and that’s what counts,” William answered.

His phone buzzed. William put down his knife and fork to check what was it. Patri waited patiently as he texted back.

“Hey, can we drop by the school field? The Black Bulls are hungry and Yami asked if I can get them takeout.”

“Sure,” Patri agreed, not really having an option to do otherwise.

“By the way, a new documentary about the trees in Heart Kingdom came out do you want to watch it with me this weekend?”

William spent the rest of their dinner talking about Heart Kingdom’s fascinating forest ecosystem. Patri didn’t mind, he just smiled. He loved seeing William get passionate like this and he wished he was like that when it came down to his own studies.

***

Somehow, they ended up helping Yami with training two first years until pretty late. Well, to be exact, Patri was the one training the two of them, William and Yami were just seating on the bench eating snacks and talking.

Noelle was nice. Pretended to be classy but was actually cool. But it was clear her Valkyrie magic was new and she had little experience with swords. She wanted to get better to be able to kick Solid’s ass and Patri despised Solid so he wanted to help her as much as he could. Of course, he could win against Solid anytime but if Noelle would be the one to beat her older brother up with her magic he teased her about her whole life, his humiliation was something Patri really wanted to see.

Asta had much more experience than Noelle but he was annoying and loud. Although, Patri admired his persistence.

He fighting both of them at once for at least an hour and started to feel tired since he’s lost quite a lot of mana on the light sword and dodging. He just hoped they would also grow tired and let him go home but they still seemed too excited about the opportunity to fight someone famous around the campus.

Surprisingly, it was Yami who saved him.

“Hey, light bulb, come here,” mumbled into his cigarette loud enough so Patri could hear him but unfortunately Noelle and Asta didn’t.

They kept on attacking and he tried to make them stop but Noelle immediately used the opening and shot a giant ball of water at him, drenching him completely.

“Asta, Noelle, Yami wants to talk to Patri, so let’s have a short break, okay?” William spoke up louder.

The two first years pulled back and dropped their weapons, breathing heavily. Patri guessed they might have been even more tired than he was. But at least, they were not wet. He envied that.

Unfortunately, his days on this Earth were counted since Yami looked like he wanted to kill him. He could think of only one possible reason for that.

Hesitantly, he joined the Yami and William in the corner, dripping water on the floor.

“Now, listen, you little elf shit,” Yami started grabbing his shirt and pulling him close so the cigarette was just a few centimetres away from burning his face. “I think you are a dangerous chaotic bitch. But William was pretty clear about you being the most important person in his life so I’m not going to kill you right now but you’re on thin ice. You make him unhappy and you’re going to regret it. Do we understand each other?”

Patri looked at William, searching for an explanation about why Yami got like that. William smiled warmly.

“Yes, it’s about us dating,” he confirmed.

“Okay,” Patri agreed. “If I hurt William I deserve it,” he said to Yami.

“Good that we’re on the same page here,” Yami released him. “Those two are dead tired, you can go home now.”

“I’m so proud of you Yami!” William praised him with joy. “You didn’t dismember my boyfriend on the sight like you always wanted to!”

“I could still feed him to my pets, so watch your words, Vangeance.”

“Please, don’t. I doubt I would be tasty,” Patri added.

“I dare to disagree,” William grinned. “Although, they like how Yami smells so maybe they have a rather perverted taste.”

“My pets are perfectly normal magic beasts,” Yami claimed. “And they would love to eat an annoying elf.”

Patri hated humans.

Suddenly, William’s hand was over his shoulder, making him jump up.

“Patri, it’s late. Let’s go home.”

They bided their farewells and left. As soon as they reached the dorms Patri ran to shower not only because he was cold and wet but also because he was slowly starting to realize how much progress his relationship with William made during one day and he was struggling to deal with it. He was happy, very happy but at the same time utterly terrified.

However, when they were both done showering, Patri hesitantly sat down on William’s bed and decided to stop running away and solve one issue that would keep on budging him unless he settled it.

“Hey, at Mejucula you wanted to tell me something... Is it okay now?”

“Okay,” William agreed, sitting right next to him. Their thighs were touching and Patri was painfully aware of it. “But I must warn you, it’s going to be weird.”

“Is this related to why you’re suddenly really... comfortable about us dating?” Patri asked, struggling to find proper words. “I mean... Today you’re acting really casual about it. And you even told Yami. To be honest, as happy as I am, it’s freaking me out a little.”

“When you were busy running away from me like the drama queen you are, I had some time to think,” William explained. “And I decided that this is the way I want to act when you’ll finally pull yourself together and try confronting me.”

“That’s something very you,” Patri sighed.

William smirked and kissed Patri’s cheek, making him blush.

“I must say, I’m enjoying myself,” he admitted.

“I would say you’re toying with my feelings if I didn’t know you’d never do that.”

“Actually, when I was thinking, I realized something else. I kind of wanted to tell you earlier but kept avoiding me. It’s going to sound a little crazy but hear me out, okay? It’s terribly awkward to say.”

“Now you are scaring me a little,” Patri muttered, avoiding William’s intensive glare.

“I wanted to tell you that it’s fine if we mess up now. Or if you want to take your time. Because it’s very much possible that you are to love of my life so everything should work out eventually."

“What?” Patri looked up.

William seemed deadly serious. Patri hasn’t seen him this serious for a while now. Probably the last time was when William told Patri to clean up the mess left from the Egg a year ago. But now, it was completely different, William has just called him the love of his life. The meaning of these words was slowly starting to get through to him, making his heart beat faster, so fast that it was almost painful.

“Why... why would you suddenly feel this way?” Patri asked in shaking voice.

“You are my best friend Patri. Even if I don’t love you now yet, I now know that you do and it made me think about all these strange things...” he gazed away, suddenly looking embarrassed; it was a strange look on William’s face, Patri was not used to it. “I think I will fall for you, it’s inevitable. And since I can’t imagine my future without you, I guess we’re in this for life. Oh, no, Patri, don’t cry,” William suddenly lost all that was remaining of his cool.

Patri was so focused on what William was saying that he barely noticed the tears running down his cheeks.

“Oh. Sorry. It’s just... you. I’m going to get tissues,” he sneezed and got up to get them from his desk. “And I’m happy. I just got... very emotional.”

“It’s okay. I kind of expected you’d cry, that’s why I didn’t tell you earlier today,” William smiled.

“Shut up, it’s really unsettling that you know me so well but still want to keep me close,” Patri whipped his face with a tissue but his voice was still trembling a bit when he spoke. “And even... I understand from my point of view how you could be the one for me, I have been in love with you for over three years, I know what I’m saying. But why would you?”

Suddenly there was the familiar mischievous smirk on William’s face.

“I won’t tell you now. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if I’m right.”

Patri took a deep breath. Since he was already crying, he decided to get rid of yet another question that was tormenting him for a while now.

“Can I ask you one more thing? It’s been really bugging me.”

He had a feeling he was going to regret it.

“Sure.”

“You keep being awfully considerate about my feelings but what do you want?”

“Sorry?” William blinked in bewilderment.

“I asked what do you want. We can even go back to being friends until you’ll start liking me back since you say we’re not in rush. Or... I don’t know. But I want to stop causing you trouble all the time.”

“I hate to breaking to you, Patri, but you causing trouble is kind of your natural state,” William giggled.

“Don’t mock me,” Patri groaned. “I’m being serious here.”

“What I want...” William laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “I like how we were today. I want to be the same way tomorrow and the day after. It was comfortable. And I still want to see you in those two French braids, I’m not letting that go.”

“Sure,” Patri snorted.

He was feeling relieved. Everything was good, almost too good to be true. Patri tossed away the tissues and gathered up his courage to ask the last, final question. It wasn’t that important but he still wanted to ask it since he didn’t use the opportunity to do so before.

“Will you come with me to the wedding this Saturday?”

“I already am,” William looked at him quizzingly.

“I know. I’m asking as a date.”

“I honestly don’t know how would we come together in any other way in the current situation but if you insist, I could officially agree,” William smirked. “Do you want to watch something before we go to sleep?”

“Are you in a mood for something?”

“Yuno recommended me a cartoon about a family of bonsais, I want to check it out.”

“Sounds good.”

Even though Patri did his best to follow the plot, at some point he drifted off with his head on William’s shoulder. He barely noticed when sometime later William turned off his laptop and stood up to do daily check-up of his beloved plants. Then, he turned off the lights, tucked Patri in, and went to slipped under the covers right next to him. Half-asleep Patri turned around and wrapped his arms around him, not thinking too much about it.


End file.
